Lil' Rhody Lounge | Off-topic posting

[Cotuit]

With gas being so expensive why the hell isn't electric heat ever cheaper?!

I have electric heat. I have a monthly plan with National Grid (the price is evenly divided over 12 months). My monthly rate is up to $120.00/month now. I have no idea how many square feet I have, but it's a 2-bedroom on the 3rd floor. Last year I did end up using less than estimated and had like a $10 bill in my 12th month (which was December, and that was very nice).

[runawayjim]

anyone know if the gas company does a monthly plan with a set price? i'd rather that than have it more expensive in the winter and less in the summer...

[JJK5]

anyone know if the gas company does a monthly plan with a set price? i'd rather that than have it more expensive in the winter and less in the summer...

Most gas companies let you prebuy to lock in a lower rate. EDIT: This might be what you want: Budget Plan

I have forced hot water heating and heat/hw is included in my rent. Still, my electric bill is always over 60$ even when I wasn't using an A/C. Seems high for a one bedroom apartment.

Edited August 7, 2006 by JJK5

[Recchia]

I'm still waiting for my landlord to realize I have a window AC and charge me the extra $50 he said he would if I put one in (my utilities are included in the rent.)

[JJK5]

I'm still waiting for my landlord to realize I have a window AC and charge me the extra $50 he said he would if I put one in (my utilities are included in the rent.)

$50 a month??? My electric bill went up maybe 5 or 6 dollars this summer since using the A/C. It's built in though, runs off 210.

[Recchia]

$50 a month??? My electric bill went up maybe 5 or 6 dollars this summer since using the A/C. It's built in though, runs off 210.

Yeah I'm thinking he probly hasnt noticed any spikes in the electric bill since I only run it at night and only use it in my bedroom. Plus I run a fan all winter at night which I don't run now (I need the noise to fall asleep). If he ever confronted me about payin him I'd ask to see the bill.

[Dan]

Beautiful full moon tonight for you 3rd shift heads. Gazing at the sky reflecting... the sight of the puffy clouds amidst the full moon just melted all the BS away.

Garris - we need a southerly shot before it disappears!

[Frankie811]

Garris - we need a southerly shot before it disappears!

Shhhhhhhhhhh Garris is busy discovering Dim Sim throughout SouthEastern New England!

[Recchia]

Beautiful full moon tonight for you 3rd shift heads. Gazing at the sky reflecting... the sight of the puffy clouds amidst the full moon just melted all the BS away.

Garris - we need a southerly shot before it disappears!

I saw that when I was out running this morning! I'm realizing now it's insane how early I wake up during the week... BTW, what a great morning today was for a run, 56 degrees and a dewpoint of 50, can't beat that!

[brick]

Hey all,

does anyone know a place in greater PVD where I can get some Baron's hot sauce? They are mostly found (normally) in the Southern West Indies (St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, etc.). I know there are a few Caribbean boutiques around but they seem to sell mostly clothing. If the same place also had Baron's Tamarind Juice concentrate, that would be even better. (although I imagine I can find Tamarind stuff at Not Just Spices)

[jencoleslaw]

i am taking tomorrow off!!! and in case you were wondering what i was going to do:

get a new cell phone, go for a pedicure and maybe get the oil changed on the car!

[Garris]

[Warning, long post... My Manchester, NH review!]

Hi everyone,

While attending a wedding in Northern New England this weekend, I thought I'd briefly stop by Manchester, NH for the first time on the way back. Unfortunately, I was there during the mid-afternoon, a terrible time to take photos (there's a harsh, unflattering light). I did, however, snap 3 or 4 shots of possible worth and I'll post them later.

I should note that any opinions here are solely my own, and, since I was only there for about three hours at most (about half of which was spent at the ballpark), any observations are cursory at best. I certainly invite any corrections to errors I might introduce below.

The Drive-by:

Driving through Manchester on highway 293, the city visually makes an impact similar to that driving North through Providence on I-95. There is a West side with quaint mills, residential structures, and church steeples, and an East side where the river runs along with the highway and skyscrapers poke up dramatically behind beautifully preserved mill buildings hugging the water. At the city's Southern end, a brand new minor league ballpark borders the river as well and it, along with the skyline beyond, beg travelers to flee the highway and explore. It's quite dramatic.

Overall feel:

I have to say Manchester isn't quite what I expected. Given its size, skyline appearance, and importance in Northern New England, I expected its downtown to have a urban feel similar to a Hartford or even a New Haven. Surprisingly, it reminded me a lot more of small city USA, much like a slightly bigger Middletown, CT and is a near twin of that city in overall feel and layout.

Both cities downtown cores seem to center around one long, very wide road (in Manchester's case, seemingly Elm St) that function as "Main Streets" with various offshoots from it. Both cities have 2-3 buildings of height that actually aren't very close to one another on the street grid and resultingly have less of an impact on the overall urban experience than one might think by looking at the skylines (unlike cities like Hartford or Providence, whose few building of height are tightly packed, giving them a bigger city/canyon feel than you'd otherwise expect for their size.

Also like Middletown, their buildings of height regrettably seem to date from either the 60's (featuring that decade's obsession with streetscape-killing pedestrian retail plazas) or the 80's (with its uber-suburban office building style). The Northern stretch of Elm on the West side of the street is littered with such buildings, serving as a kind of suburban office building "neutral zone" making one not wish to venture down to the mills on the river (more on them later). These trends combat mightily the otherwise very urban, very vibrant, sidewalk-fronting retail that defines the East side of Elm St more than the West.

Overall, these trends, along with the area's apparent demographics, gave Manchester a working-class "big small-town" feel for me, very much like Middletown, and quite different than I expected.

The Mills:

I can't talk about Manchester without talking about its Mill District on the water. It's quite impressive. The renovated mills are in tremendous condition and they look and feel fantastic. A true treasure. They also house everything from companies to museums to restaurants and all of it taken together has the feel of a neighborhood revitalized. Good work!

The only downside to this (that Providence too will have to deal with in places like the Jewelry District and Valley) is that the mills tend to be surrounded by seas of asphalt surface parking that isn't very pedestrian friendly. Sure, there are sidewalks and signs, but it doesn't feel inviting. Looking at the area, I'd much rather drive there and park, frankly, which is really too bad. I'm sure this district must nicely attract folks from the suburbs who pop off the highway, park at the mills, and then stay for dining or entertainment. When done, though, they probably drive back to the highway home and never walk up the hill two blocks to Elm St. Which is, again, too bad...

But I very honestly don't know how to avoid this phenomenon, in part because all of this black space surrounding mills is actually quite authentic. That space was there when they were built, and it's there now. Providence will have to ask itself what it wants to do with all of its surface space around its mills in the JD, for example. Keep them intact or try to infill around them? Tough issue.

Good Trends:

There are lots of nice trends in Manchester that I saw. The new ballpark (where I watched a game for a while) is a gem and an urban sports amenity to be proud of. While the attached hotel is more bland looking in person than in photos, the overall effect is sophisticated and dramatic.

The main Elm St drag (at least downtown, before it turns into strip plaza hells heading North and South) is, on the whole, quite interesting from a retail perspective. A huge variety of stores seem to get along there (if not thrive). The retail diversity is one that downtown Providence has yet to achieve. Cafes and restaurants of all varieties coexist with music schools, trophy stores, pastry shops, variety stores, shoe repair shops, gyms, law offices, sex shops, clothes stores, and antique dealers. And that mix may just be present in two blocks. The difference in retail footage (Providence's two big retail spaces per block vs Manchester's fitting as many as 5-10 shops on one side of a city block alone) seems to be one big factor in this difference. It's a quite vibrant and impressive public retail space in which local concerns and chains appear to easily co-exist.

There are also some nice public spaces in Manchester. The Veterans Memorial Park is a nice, centrally located space, and I saw one or two large parks located one or two blocks East of Elm.

For a small city, there seem to be many amenities as well. A performance hall complete with orchestra. Also an Art Institute/Museum. The aforementioned ballpark and a very modern Civic Center. There seemed to be a good mix of restaurants, both in price and cuisine (with a decent ethnic range readily apparent).

Overall, the mill area and the Elm street area tended to be very clean and well cared for. Vibrant banners line the street and Manchester seems to have better maintained roads, sidewalks, and, especially, signs than is the norm for Providence.

Hanover Street was very impressive as well. That Elm/Hanover crossing is very nice and full of potential.

Bad Trends:

Regrettably, there were some bad trends I saw as well. First, where was everyone? It's a gorgeous weekend day, the ballgame just let out, and downtown's just dead. In the trendy (and very good) Bridge St Cafe, I was the only one there except for two young men, who were seemingly there to talk to (and, well, mostly look at) the alluring young woman working behind the counter (and I have to say I couldn't blame them ). The only folks wandering around the downtown seemed to be of the "slightly sketchy" variety I know and love well from my days in New Haven. You know, upstanding folks who, on closer inspection, seem just a touch inebriated, just a touch loitering, and just altogether a bit too interested in what you're doing.

In that vein, two men, seemingly normal appearing cyclists chatting on the street who would otherwise be very image of a vibrant urban downtown, briefly paused conversation as I photographed nearby and then went on to complete a drug deal right in front of me, quite open and in broad daylight, under the awning of the music store/school on Elm as some kids and adults ate ice cream about 40 feet away at outdoor chairs in front of Ben and Jerry's.

Similarly, I browsed three local newspapers while in the cafe (one mainstream, two alternative) and all three had headline articles about violent crime. Is this a big problem there?

On the city planning front, like Providence, the city's highway "gateways" aren't that impressive. Exit 6 (the main downtown exit) greets visitors with a sketchy looking motel with an attached Hooters and some kind of power transformer plant.

Like many New England cities, the various styles inflicted on downtown Manchester (from historic merchantile to suburban office building to pedestrian plaza) seem to have taken their toll on overall urban cohesiveness. It's tough to pin down the city's feel from block to block and the whole ends up feeling less than the sum of its parts, regrettably.

Like in Providence, some of this is due to the predominence of parking garages and surface lots. I couldn't tell (really wasn't looking that hard) to see which were private and which were municipal. Whatever the situation, there are too many in key locations.

The new Civic Center, while nice, is very poorly integrated into the city and, like many such convention centers, feels like it was dropped into the block from outer-space.

Also, are there a lot of housing projects nearby? One or two streets East of Elm, residential dwellings seem to get very scary, very fast. One man on a bike, who seemed kind of discheveled and kind of pupilarily constricted, came by me on a bike (lots of bikes!) and said, "Hey, you from around here?" Me: "No." Him: "Ah, OK, I wouldn't recommend you walk that much further in this direction, if you know what I mean. I'd head back to Elm if I were you." Me: "Okey dokey! Thanks!"

On a personal level, Manchester now takes the prize from New Haven as the "City I've been Most Harrassed in While Taking Photos." Everyone from teens with skateboards, to homeless men, to elderly women with walkers, to drunk men without shirts, to young women in too tight tops, to demented old men wandering aimlessly around seemed to have an insult, gesture, or smart-alecky comment to aim my way. All in an hour and a half!! And I thought the teens from Cranston with the slicked back hair on Federal Hill were bad...

Here's but one example, an aggressive, kinda high guy and his profanity spewing mother in a motorized wheelchair (maybe wife? I didn't ask...) who, um, "asked" me to take their photo in front of City Hall "or else I'll make sure you'll be f*****' sorry!!!" Picture was taken... I'll put it here shortly...

This of course only attracted the attention of two nearby guitar toting, loitering teen boys, who next came over with their own set of insults/demands (these I didn't give into...).

Also, I was hit up for money by more folks while walking Manchester in 90 minutes than in all of my time living in Providence for 2 and 1/2 years. While not a fair direct comparison, it is nevertheless interesting.

Summary:

So, that's it! The good, back, and the scary. Obviously, this is a city in transition, with lots of potential. One newspaper article mentioned that, like Providence, a master plan for the city is in the process of being crafted (or just recently was, the tone wasn't clear). I'd love to see it either way.

When travelling to and from Northern New England, I'd love to stop in again to sample some of the great looking restaurants I saw. Hopefully, the angry man and his mother/wife will have long forgotten that I never sent them the photo...

- Garris

PS: I'll upload the photos later...

Edited August 15, 2006 by Garris

[runawayjim]

i've been through downtown manchester at night as well (not particularly late either) and it wasn't hopping like i would have expected it to be.

i never thought of the middletown analogy, but now that you mention it, you're right. they are very similar in look and feel.

[Garris]

Hi everyone,

Here are some of the photos from Manchester, NH. Again, the light was harsh in mid-afternoon, so it was tough to photograph. This is the best I could do.

First, the skyline from highway 293. Too bad about the power lines there...:

The river with lining mills, also as seen from 293:

The Eastern facade along Elm Street:

Another photo of the facade:

Yet another, this from a side street off of Elm:

The Hampshire Plaza skyscraper:

The lights lining the building's unfortunately designed, large plaza:

Great Manchester retail signage lining Elm Street:

Old facades against a newer (relative) skyscraper:

The old City Hall:

The old City Hall and the new City Hall:

The old City Hall framed against the new City Hall:

Profile of the old City Hall from Hanover Street:

Elm St. sidewalk dining:

Another view of Elm Street signage:

Hanover St street scene and signage:

More of Hanover St with the Palace facade:

Another of the Palace facade:

The brick facade of Hanover St:

That's about all for now. Perhaps a few more later!

- Garris

Edited August 15, 2006 by Garris

[jencoleslaw]

where are the pics of the crazy people?

[Garris]

where are the pics of the crazy people?

The angry man and his mom/wife pose in front of city hall. They are the only crazy people photographed .

- Garris

Edited August 15, 2006 by Garris

[runawayjim]

is the new city hall the tallest building in manchester? and what's with the cities using big ugly buildings for city hall?

[Garris]

is the new city hall the tallest building in manchester?

Yes, I believe so.

It gave me new appreciation for the Westin here in Providence, as the architect of the new City Hall was clearly aiming for the same visual impact as the Westin. Post-modern, contextual materials, aiming for a "new classic" look, but it doesn't quite pull it off and lacks the urban sensibilities that the Westin here has in spades. The materials come off as somewhat cheap and the base has a suburban office building feel even more generic than the BCBS' entrance here.

- Garris

[Lone Ranger]

That old City Hall is something, though. Do you happen to remember when it was built?

Nah, nevermind, that's what Google is for. 1846, I find. Interesting.

Edited August 16, 2006 by Lone Ranger

[Garris]

Ok, here are the rest of the Manchester photos...

More great Elm Street retail signage in Manchester:

I really loved the contrast between the old and new City Halls:

I like this old, character filled alley with the antique utility wires sitting next to a brand spanking new satellite dish:

Far from my favorite photo (terrible, harsh afternoon light and poor composition, with the signs and traffic lights), this is the only shot I could achieve to include more than one skyscraper in the same photo. This is the maximally urban Manchester scene:

And to end the Manchester photos, here is yet another old-new contrast:

Sorry I didn't take any photos of the ballpark, but there are other good ones of it here on the UP boards and the lighting was just so, so bright that I knew it wouldn't work, so I just kicked back and enjoyed the game .

- Garris

PS: I'll probably be looking to sell some of my current equipment in the next several months (digital SLR body, tripod, maybe a lens or two). If anyone here might be interested, PM me...

[Gusterfell]

Great stuff as always, Garris.

Not to steal your thunder, but the significant other and I spent the day doing the tourist thing in Salem. It was my first visit, and I was quite impressed. Just a few of my impressions:

I was quite surprised at how incredibly pedestrian-friendly the city is. Sidewalks are generally wide and well maintained, and drivers seem to make a point of stopping if you're anywhere near a crosswalk. Never in my life have I had the experience of seeing four lanes of traffic simultaineously halt for someone standing on the curb, but it happened there. On the other hand, some pedestrians apparently take this for granted. As I was driving out of town, a guy yelled at me for not yielding to him, never mind the fact that he was a good three or four strides from entering the street.

Also aiding walkability, all the major attractions are connected by a red line painted on the sidewalk. This loop makes it very easy to find where you're going, and even though I'd never set foot in town before I found that I rarely needed to consult a map.

I found most attractions/shops/reataurants to be quite reasonably priced, for a tourist town. We had a nice (though admittedly light) dinner at Victoria Station, on the terrace overlooking the harbor, and the bill for two was less than $30. All I could think was that the same meal in the same setting in Newport would have easily cost twice that.

That said, lunch at the Salem Beer Works did run over $50, but we did indulge in the house specialty. Their Watermelon Ale is the nectar of the gods.

Leaving the garage across Essex St. from the Peabody Essex Museum, the toll booth was unattended, gate up, with nothing but a sign displaying hourly rates. The experience had a sort of sketchy vibe about it... is the garage free midweek? After 8pm? Was the attendant taking a coffee break?

Though the fact that Salem has a couple multi-level garages in the heart of downtown made parking a breeze. Newport needs to build the Mary St. Garage already.

For a tourist town, I thought signage was generally very conservative. Much like the issues with signage Downcity that have been discussed elsewhere, few businesses have signs that really catch your eye, and a couple times we were searching for one shop or another, only to find we were standing right in front of it.

Driving home, we took 93 south through Boston for my first time (I always, always take the train when I go to Boston). Despite all the horror stories about traffic, there was nobody on that road at 9:30 on a Tuesday night. Good thing, too, because the nighttime views of the Financial District skyline just before entering the Big Dig and the Back Bay view just after have got to be the two most spectacular skyline views in New England. I was a slightly destracted driver, to say the least.

How long has there been a wind turbine alongside the highway near the Keyspan tank? Kudos to whoever put that there, and more kudos for the cool blue spotlighting on it.

But enough talk. I'll have some pictures from Salem sometime tomorrow.

[runawayjim]

that turbine has been there for at least a few years now.

you're brave for going through the big dig. i'm sure the reason it was empty was because it was so late on a week night. boston traffic isn't usually bad at night unless there's construction or a concert or sporting event getting out. i also wouldn't be surprised if more people are afraid to drive the big dig now.

so was this salem, NH or salem, MA?

[Gusterfell]

that turbine has been there for at least a few years now.

LOL, shows how often I drive through the city.

so was this salem, NH or salem, MA?

I should probably have clarified that. It was Salem, MA.

[brick]

How long has there been a wind turbine alongside the highway near the Keyspan tank? Kudos to whoever put that there, and more kudos for the cool blue spotlighting on it.

The turbine was put up by IBEW.

[Gusterfell]

A little late, but my Salem pics are here. Hope you like them.

EDIT: I'm not sure why my link skips the first post in that thread, but be sure to scroll up to see the entire collection.

Edited August 21, 2006 by Gusterfell