Country Discussion: USA

[Mutzo Nutzo]

Toasted ravs and Ted Drewes frozen custard - Get in!

 

[Martin Alvito]

Toasted ravs and Ted Drewes frozen custard - Get in!

One way to out yourself as a Cards fan.

 

[Pittsburgh Footy]

Had a couple of friends wind up in Houston for periods. One hated it. Couldn't get on with the culture and essentially being forced to drive everywhere. She reckoned the only areas with sidewalks were the expat areas where she lived. She and her husband moved back when his contract ended as they were miserable.

My other mate is still out there and has gone full native. Owns a truck, guns, a ranch, and laps up right wing conspiracy theories.

I guess you either get it or you don’t. I do worry about the second friend, some of the stuff he comes out with if I catch up with him is truly odd.

This is without a shadow of a doubt the worst city in the US. Any place where everyone that lives there says "oh, no one golfs here in the summer" because it's so beastly hot has an uphill battle for livability, to be sure

Sorry @BlueTX

 

[Martin Alvito]

To be fair Houston is an awful place to end up even if you’re a Yank

The weather is wretched. I am reliably informed that College Station is a worse landing point. Easiest first interview question ever, when people from A&M were interviewing for a job. "Why do you want to leave your present position?" "Have you been to College Station?"

 

[wm02]

This is without a shadow of a doubt the worst city in the US. Any place where everyone that lives there says "oh, no one golfs here in the summer" because it's so beastly hot has an uphill battle for livability, to be sure

Sorry @BlueTX

I once had a weeklong training in Houston with accommodations at an airport hotel. Didn’t have a rental car and it was a good 30-40 minutes into Houston.

Longest week of my life. Terrible.

Best thing about Houston is the kolaches

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

This is without a shadow of a doubt the worst city in the US. Any place where everyone that lives there says "oh, no one golfs here in the summer" because it's so beastly hot has an uphill battle for livability, to be sure

Sorry @BlueTX

Yeah, my mate who is still out there basically lives in an air conditioned cocoon. Bar walking to/from car-house or car-office. He seems to really like it. The weirdo.

 

[Pittsburgh Footy]

I once had a weeklong training in Houston with accommodations at an airport hotel. Didn’t have a rental car and it was a good 30-40 minutes into Houston.

Longest week of my life. Terrible.

Best thing about Houston is the kolaches

Yeah I've had to work there in short stints with the company i used to work for, out in the suburbs nowhere near the actual city area, and it was just strip malls, flat ugly gridlocked highways and humidity for miles

To be fair I spent an overnight downtown once, which was fine, but was nothing like Dallas, which although nothing like the northeast, was much more of a "city" to me

 

[wm02]

Yeah I've had to work there in short stints with the company i used to work for, out in the suburbs nowhere near the actual city area, and it was just strip malls, flat ugly gridlocked highways and humidity for miles

To be fair I spent an overnight downtown once, which was fine, but was nothing like Dallas, which although nothing like the northeast, was much more of a "city" to me

Yeah that was my experience too. Just an unending sprawl.

I’ve had some good meals in Houston though—Viet Cajun, Tex Mex, kolaches, etc and the Astros ballpark was a good time

 

[verreauxi]

Shameless plug for the greatest city on earth:

View attachment 219415

I've visited Pittsburgh twice and loved it both times. Once was an extended stay with my buddy when he lived there. Had a "Chicago feel" (my only reference of comparison) in terms of the great food and neighborhood pubs. The other time was for a wedding at the Phillips Conservatory, which was amazing. The river front is great. All in all, a great city that often gets overlooked in the grand scheme of American cities.

 

[SerenityNigh]

The weather is wretched. I am reliably informed that College Station is a worse landing point. Easiest first interview question ever, when people from A&M were interviewing for a job. "Why do you want to leave your present position?" "Have you been to College Station?"

Didn't realize Bryan/CS had any jobs that didn't revolve around that moon of a university. I think if you like the college town atmosphere it can be a great place, but it seems too close to Austin to not take a job in Austin instead.

 

[SerenityNigh]

Yeah I've had to work there in short stints with the company i used to work for, out in the suburbs nowhere near the actual city area, and it was just strip malls, flat ugly gridlocked highways and humidity for miles

To be fair I spent an overnight downtown once, which was fine, but was nothing like Dallas, which although nothing like the northeast, was much more of a "city" to me

Yeah that was my experience too. Just an unending sprawl.

I’ve had some good meals in Houston though—Viet Cajun, Tex Mex, kolaches, etc and the Astros ballpark was a good time

Decent food and decent people but the city itself is an absolute mess and I have a theory it stems from the terrible highway design. Every road leads into that giant loop around downtown and so nearly every route you take across the city takes you into the traffic. I've never driven Atlanta traffic but I imagine Houston is about the same or getting nearly as bad. IMO the city gets a vibe from its terrible traffic, and It needs massive transit redesign soon or it will be far worse in 20 years.

 

[Martin Alvito]

Didn't realize Bryan/CS had any jobs that didn't revolve around that moon of a university. I think if you like the college town atmosphere it can be a great place, but it seems too close to Austin to not take a job in Austin instead.

A&M, at least at the time, was fairly prestigious for certain positions in academe. They had attracted a bunch of good people across several disciplines. For the most part, what we had coming through was assistant professors who probably were in tenure-track trouble, but there was no way of teasing that out in the interview because they had the easy out to the probing question.

It was always the same answer, by the way. I don't know what it's like these days, but back then I was regaled with many a story about how it was a Wal-Mart, a drive-in movie theater and a bunch of college bars. It also wasn't always the case that a candidate had competing offers from Austin and College Station on the table, with newly minted doctorate in hand.

 

[wm02]

I've visited Pittsburgh twice and loved it both times. Once was an extended stay with my buddy when he lived there. Had a "Chicago feel" (my only reference of comparison) in terms of the great food and neighborhood pubs. The other time was for a wedding at the Phillips Conservatory, which was amazing. The river front is great. All in all, a great city that often gets overlooked in the grand scheme of American cities.

Yup. Definitely an underrated city. Lots to do and some great parks in the surrounding area.
They did a fantastic job with the Pirates stadium. Some view you get of the skyline and river.

 

[wm02]

Decent food and decent people but the city itself is an absolute mess and I have a theory it stems from the terrible highway design. Every road leads into that giant loop around downtown and so nearly every route you take across the city takes you into the traffic. I've never driven Atlanta traffic but I imagine Houston is about the same or getting nearly as bad. IMO the city gets a vibe from its terrible traffic, and It needs massive transit redesign soon or it will be far worse in 20 years.

Yeah, very similar to Atlanta in my experience. The public transportation was better in Atlanta though iirc. Maybe due to hosting the Olympics?

 

[SerenityNigh]

A&M, at least at the time, was fairly prestigious for certain positions in academe. They had attracted a bunch of good people across several disciplines. For the most part, what we had coming through was assistant professors who probably were in tenure-track trouble, but there was no way of teasing that out in the interview because they had the easy out to the probing question.

It was always the same answer, by the way. I don't know what it's like these days, but back then I was regaled with many a story about how it was a Wal-Mart, a drive-in movie theater and a bunch of college bars. It also wasn't always the case that a candidate had competing offers from Austin and College Station on the table, with newly minted doctorate in hand.

ahh, well jobs for academics is a different sort of thing. it's a grind even in the best of situations and you will probably never be well paid unless you sell a few books. then again, a good friend has tenure and if he gets his 2nd R01 he'll earn enough to not have to worry (more than usual) about most things.