Anyone up for a chat thread?

[seeking.IAM]

"Daddy, we should get a female emu." What?

At least it is not the traditional yearning for a pony. Not yet, anyway.

 

[The Liturgist]

I think they were kind of trendy at one point, as well as ostrichs.

I love a good ostrich steak but I’ve never had one in North America, but in Santa Barbara in my youth I viifed an ostrich farm and there are places to get it… Ostrich is like the opposite of bison in that whereas bison is a bit too lean and tough, ostrich is plump and juicy while still being a red meat. Duck ala orange can be vaguely similar if done right.

 

[Shane R]

At least it is not the traditional yearning for a pony. Not yet, anyway.

We went through that phase a couple of years ago. But some of their kin on their mother's side have horses. We went to visit them in Massachusetts a couple of summers ago and they got their fill of horses.

 

[RileyG]

I love a good ostrich steak but I’ve never had one in North America, but in Santa Barbara in my youth I viifed an ostrich farm and there are places to get it… Ostrich is like the opposite of bison in that whereas bison is a bit too lean and tough, ostrich is plump and juicy while still being a red meat. Duck ala orange can be vaguely similar if done right.

I’m pretty sure my mother, once over 20 years ago, put bison (buffalo) meat in a soup she made for a family meal. I don’t recall what it tasted like. I’m in Nebraska and I think bison is popular in the Dakotas.

 

[RileyG]

I've been trying to eat eggs as a good source of lean protein (trying to shift some unwanted weight). But that's an aspirational option just now!

Yeah, here in Southeast Nebraska eggs are about $5.49 per 18.

 

[Paidiske]

Yeah, here in Southeast Nebraska eggs are about $5.49 per 18.

I just checked the website of the local supermarket, and we're looking at $11.50 for 18 eggs. (That's if you can get them; most options are showing as out of stock).

 

[Shane R]

I live near some Amish settlements. They will have eggs even when the stores don't. They are also very astute business people and will price accordingly. $6-7 a dozen currently.

 

[Paidiske]

I see @Shane R's reaction to my above post. I should probably add that our economies don't really compare neatly in most ways. Our minimum wage is much higher than yours, for example. But that's still a massive increase on what it was a few years ago, before the current bird flu etc.

 

[Shane R]

Yes. I am aware food costs are generally quite low in the US compared to many other Anglo countries. Even our Canadian neighbors are generally envious.

 

[Paidiske]

I'll be visiting Hawaii in April and have been warned that everything there is expensive, because it's mostly imported from the mainland. Would that match your understanding?

 

[Shane R]

I'll be visiting Hawaii in April and have been warned that everything there is expensive, because it's mostly imported from the mainland. Would that match your understanding?

Yes. Hawaii is the outlier for the full-fledged States, and Alaska. Because they are not attached to the rest of the country. Fruit is pretty cheap and there's some great fish to be had. I think Hawaii is still the top producer of pineapple.

 

[Shane R]

One of my Lutheran pastor buddies vacations out there every spring. It is quite possible that you might actually be able to get cheaper airfare from Australia than I can get from the Midwest.

 

[Shane R]

Are you vacationing or working or some of both?

 

[Paidiske]

It's quite exciting, really. My other half won an award through his work (which I really don't understand; the best I can do is tell you he's a consultant working with cloud-based storage solutions, and this award is from his employer, for his technical contributions), and the significant part of the prize is an all-expenses-paid trip for two to Hawaii (we're paying extra to take the teenager with us). The only catch was that we couldn't choose the dates, so I'll be getting back here on Palm Sunday, which will make Holy Week interesting (I hope the jet lag isn't too bad...)

So it's a bit of work stuff for him - there'll be professional networking and a gala dinner for award winners and stuff like that - but for me, I basically get to hang out in a resort and be his arm candy for the week.

 

[The Liturgist]

I'll be visiting Hawaii in April and have been warned that everything there is expensive, because it's mostly imported from the mainland. Would that match your understanding?

Yes, Hawaii and Alaska have a very high cost of living, especially Northern Alaska. I think Barrow has the highest supermarket prices in the US but that’s what you get if you want to live with beachfront property on the Arctic (most people in Barrow work for oil companies IIRC, and there are some Native Alaskans who receive assistance; also the state of Alaska gives an annual payment to everyone who lives there).

 

[The Liturgist]

One of my Lutheran pastor buddies vacations out there every spring. It is quite possible that you might actually be able to get cheaper airfare from Australia than I can get from the Midwest.

If you fly to the West Coast first, that can reduce costs, and also avoids the misery of a flight time that rivals that of flights to Europe. From the West Coast, Hawaii takes slightly less time than a westbound transcontinental flight from JFK to LAX (LAX to JFK tends to be faster because of the tailwind from the jetstream, indeed the fastest ground speed I’ve ever had domestically was in 2008: 720 MPH on a Delta 757-200 flying to New York; we were an hour late leaving LAX due to a pilot being stuck in traffic, so they probably burned a bit of extra fuel to get us to JFK to make our connections, but I still had to rush from T2 over the speed ramp to the late lamented T3* for my connecting flight to Accra, Ghana.

*This was the former Pan Am Worldport, which unlike the TWA Flight Center (old T5) which was saved and became a boutique hotel with a Lockheed Starliner converted to a bar, T3 was razed - so too were T8 and T9, the old United and American terminals. T9 featured really beautiful stained glass in its check-in area. T6 was beautiful when first built, by National Airlines. What made JFK special was that aside from the old International Terminal, which was replaced by T4, each airline built their own terminal with their own architects, except for T2, which was jointly built by Delta, Braniff, Northwest and Northeast, which were too small at JFK to warrant their own terminals. T1 was built by Eastern and later taken over by US Airways, then demolished and rebuilt along the lines of T4.

LAX is somewhat similar in terms of having multiple airlines building their own terminals.

 

[The Liturgist]

Yes. Hawaii is the outlier for the full-fledged States, and Alaska. Because they are not attached to the rest of the country. Fruit is pretty cheap and there's some great fish to be had. I think Hawaii is still the top producer of pineapple.

It’s where Dole is based. They used to own the island of Lanai outright, then sold it to Larry Ellison, but I believe they still run the plantation.

 

[RileyG]

I see @Shane R's reaction to my above post. I should probably add that our economies don't really compare neatly in most ways. Our minimum wage is much higher than yours, for example. But that's still a massive increase on what it was a few years ago, before the current bird flu etc.

Minimum wage in my state is currently $12. When I first started working, it was $9, and I was making $10 per hour part time.

 

[RileyG]

I'll be visiting Hawaii in April and have been warned that everything there is expensive, because it's mostly imported from the mainland. Would that match your understanding?

I never visited Hawaii, but that wouldn't surprise me in the least.

 

[Paidiske]

The minimum wage here (for adults) is $24.10 per hour. (For juniors it's a bit less).

I think when I got my first job, and I was a junior then, I was earning about $15 an hour. That would have been in '96. So that gives you some idea of the difference.