Josh wrote:
Well, I am a half mile from I-95, and within a mile or so of everything on my little list. Saco's great, but it's not necessarily the city of my dreams. But it is where I grew up, and where I live for now.
It's hard to explain to people who aren't from here, but this part of the New England coast is sort of different to me than other parts of the country I've lived in or visited. The towns individually may be sort of small, but if I drive down 95 from Portland past Boston, I'm never more than a few miles from a decent sized town with a bunch of stores, restaurants, hotels, and other amenities. You never feel like you're leaving civilization. 17k people here is just a small slice of what feels more like an extended city of several million stretching down the coast for another 100+ miles. 17k people stuck out all alone in the middle of one of them flat states out there is whole 'nother thing. But I'm sure this sounds stupid to everyone but me.
No, not at all. I grew up in the rural South, and for a long time I felt that a town with 17K was a big city! When I moved to Atlanta in `85 (I lived inside the city proper when I first got here), there were only about 4 million people here, and I felt like I'd moved to Tokyo. 
Josh
Dork
1/2/10 10:45 p.m.
It's not that I consider 17k to be a big city. It's not. But the interconnectedness of this region is probably hard to explain to people from states that were primarily settled after the 1600s :). I lived in St. Louis for the better part of 5 years, and always felt like, on the whole, I was part of a much smaller community than I am here. Sure, the buildings just outside my window were taller, but the immediate developed world only seemed to stretch for about 15 miles in any direction.
poopshovel wrote:
I suppose if you're the kind of c*(%smoker who cruises around Ft. Lauderdale in your ferrari that's never heard it's own tires begging for mercy, desperately seeking solitude from your alcoholic pill-popping trophy wife who's nailing the pool-boy because you haven't berkeleyed her in ten years, something like that would be masturbatorily sensational.
Seriously. What a load of status-symbol horse E36 M3. If you had money for something like that, why wouldn't you just build a berkeleying garage?
I'm not sure about all that... but one thing is for sure... I want to be the pool boy in your fantasy Ft. Lauderdale rich-guy scenario. I do love me some alcoholic pill-popping trophy wife.
Josh wrote:
It's not that I consider 17k to be a big city. It's not. But the interconnectedness of this region is probably hard to explain to people from states that were primarily settled after the 1600s :). I lived in St. Louis for the better part of 5 years, and always felt like, on the whole, I was part of a much smaller community than I am here. Sure, the buildings just outside my window were taller, but the immediate developed world only seemed to stretch for about 15 miles in any direction.
I did get that impression the only time I've been to New England (the BMW E3 I drove through college was originally a Connecticut car). I really don't know how to explain it either, except to say that people seemed "connected" in a way that we just aren't down here. And of course, at the time I thought of it as driving through an endless parade of "big cities" rather than a series of small towns.
Did you watch "Love The Beast" on Speed a week or so ago? I found myself nodding wildly when Eric Bana described the setting in his parents' garage with his childhood buddies; "It was our church" and other descriptions. We're car guys & the "community" inside our garage is very important. We're also VERY cheap. LOL
I'm blessed to have found my own garage-mahal with my current home. A nice, clean, modest house with a garage large enough to stuff 6 Miatas inside (2 rows of 3). My neighbors & friends come over & we work on cars, tell lies about the old days & drink beer / watch tv / sit on the old futon. To us, garages are the Car Guy equivalent of a kid's treehouse!
Josh wrote:
Well, I am a half mile from I-95, and within a mile or so of everything on my little list. Saco's great, but it's not necessarily the city of my dreams. But it is where I grew up, and where I live for now.
It's hard to explain to people who aren't from here, but this part of the New England coast is sort of different to me than other parts of the country I've lived in or visited. The towns individually may be sort of small, but if I drive down 95 from Portland past Boston, I'm never more than a few miles from a decent sized town with a bunch of stores, restaurants, hotels, and other amenities. You never feel like you're leaving civilization. 17k people here is just a small slice of what feels more like an extended city of several million stretching down the coast for another 100+ miles. 17k people stuck out all alone in the middle of one of them flat states out there is whole 'nother thing. But I'm sure this sounds stupid to everyone but me.
gotcha, and I do understand. here in the mnts of the south our small towns (much smaller than Saco) tend to feel very isolated, though it's slowly becoming less so
My brother james has this close to him in Middletown NY www.hotrodhotel.com
friedgreencorrado wrote:
When I moved to Atlanta in `85 (I lived inside the city proper when I first got here), there were only about 4 million people here, and I felt like I'd moved to Tokyo.
The traffic's not as bad in Tokyo. 
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:
poopshovel wrote:
I suppose if you're the kind of c*(%smoker who cruises around Ft. Lauderdale in your ferrari that's never heard it's own tires begging for mercy, desperately seeking solitude from your alcoholic pill-popping trophy wife who's nailing the pool-boy because you haven't berkeleyed her in ten years, something like that would be masturbatorily sensational.
Seriously. What a load of status-symbol horse E36 M3. If you had money for something like that, why wouldn't you just build a berkeleying garage?
I'm not sure about all that... but one thing is for sure... I want to be the pool boy in your fantasy Ft. Lauderdale rich-guy scenario. I do love me some alcoholic pill-popping trophy wife.
If you played your cards right, she'd probably even toss you the keys to the boxster.
I don't think I would want any part of that boxster after the pool boy got through with it.
Which "boxster" are we talking about?
