@MinnesotaDadof3 Rule number two of Massholeishness: NEVER make eye contact. Eye contact means you give up the power…and the right of way. 
Years ago a local radio station did a comedy spot about Massholes. My favorite comment (said in a thick Boston accent): “Turn signals - never used them…never will!”
Massholes have nothing on California drivers. Although I think a lot of drivers in Palo Alto/Stanford are Massholes or their progeny. I wonder if there is an equivalent to the California stop in Massachusetts.
Don’t get me started on the Asian drivers in Cupertino and West San Jose though. Just as bad or worse than Massholes!
…I do not want to hear any complaints about the problem drivers in your particular area. Here in Florida right now, we have all the problem drivers from EVERY area - all meeting in one glorious demolition derby we call “tourist season”. Want to know what happens when a Masshole encounters a California driver while weaving around one of the 90+ year olds who can’t see over the steering wheel but still drives? We’ve got it. Between the clueless tourists and the legally blind great grandparents, driving here is a real adventure.
But I do have to wonder, how freakin’ slow were you driving in the parking garage anyway? That sounds like the style of one of our 90 year olds… out for a leisurely 40 mph spin on the interstate with his turn signal on.
" I wonder if there is an equivalent to the California stop in Massachusetts."
If the California stop is to not really stop just creep to a crawl, look both ways, and keep going, yes there is an equivalent but we have always called that a “New York Stop”.
I have never been accused of having a genteel touch on the gas pedal. He passed us, we rounded the corner and waited for him to pay and leave!.
Can we get back to snarky college reviews?
One of the engineers at work, a female grad from RPI told me that during open houses they do everything they can to get the ladies to volunteer unless they have coke bottle glasses and orange stained fingers
Card carrying Masshole right here! All things @SwimmingDad said are true and times two in Boston. First car nose in wins and never ever make eye contact! We never use turn signals and if we do, we call them blinkahs.
“ But the biggest thing for us was the distance from main campus to West campus, where all the Engineering classes are taught. It’s about 2 miles. The west campus had a completely different vibe than main campus.”
Michigan doesn’t have a “west campus.” Perhaps you were lost? lol
I didn’t like Vassar or Tufts. Too small. Too remote. It was a nice day at Tufts and nobody was outside. It was depressing. Brown was happy, but it was too remote and the campus was tiny.
If Brown and Tufts are “remote,” I’d love to hear your impressions of Cornell and Williams.
Re driving - the proper term is “California roll”, just like the sushi.
I have never heard of the rolling stop called a California roll…everybody I know calls it a California stop, even the police.
And back to our regularly scheduled programming. I will throw some shade on my alma mater-Santa Clara. Good school for what it is but the area is devoid of anything to do. The dorms are aging and the food choices aren’t the greatest. You do get to know your professors and if you’re lucky you can have some interesting discussions with Jesuits over a beer or some hard liquor.
Even though the location is ideal (Silicon Valley) the internship opportunities are hard to find since the students are competing with Cal and Stanford students. Also there are the uninitiated who think Santa Clara is part of the University of California system.
One more roll comment. I worked as a dispatcher in my hometown PD during summers and vacations (in NJ0. The patrolman always referred to it as a California Roll. I had no idea what sushi even was at the time but that is what they called it.
Emory, and I am an alum. DD was totally not impressed with info session nor tour. I had a good experience there as an undergrad as did DH in grad school. The school has really matured since we were there. Admissions should polish their act if they want to compete.
My D14 looked at Colgate, it was beautiful, the head of admissions stopped in the hall to chat for 20 minutes and then went and got D an ice cream pop because it was hot out. We even went and visited their boathouse - also beautiful. When we got back our CC said “the town is closed down, and the nearest Walmart is 45 minutes away. Everyone drinks a lot and unless your willing to kit your daughter out in Louis Vuitton and Tory Burch, and buy a pied-a-terre in Manhattan, forget Colgate.” LOL. We forgot Colgate, and the kid that attended from her school had all of the above.
Saw Skidmore on the same trip. The tour guide made sure to show us the student run garden that was used to grow and donate food to the local food bank - it was 100% student run. Very impressive. My sister commented that she thought it was wonderful that the students stayed over the summer to tend to and harvest the garden to which the tour guide said, “oh we don’t stay, we have people for that.” Hookay.
Went to Syracuse too during that (very long) trip. Approached from the dodgy side and D wouldn’t get out of the car.
@SwimmingDad @MinnesotaDadof3 There is a Boston travel guide entitled “Wild in the Streets: The Boston Driver’s Handbook”.
https://www.amazon.com/Boston-Drivers-Handbook-Streets-Almost/dp/0306813262/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519607741&sr=1-1&keywords=wild+in+the+streets
It should be compulsory reading before proceeding within I-495.
Remind me to scratch any MA schools from my daughter’s future list… And I thought New Jersey was bad…
@inthegarden the nice thing about going to college in Massachusetts is that, for most Boston schools, your student will rarely have to drive anywhere. Most colleges have very good bus links to other colleges and the subway system (T) is quite decent from what I recall. Much of the city is quite walkable.
I learned to drive in Mass., so I guess that makes me a masshole. One problem in Mass. is that the majority of intersections do not involve 2 roads crossing, forming nice 90-degree angles. Most intersections involve 2 or more(!) roads converging at unique angles, and how drivers interact at such intersections is based on local custom. When a driver is not familiar with the local custom, things get wicked messed up.
The most important part of masshole driving protocol is probably the left turn after a light has turned green. It’s expected that about 3 cars are allowed to turn left before oncoming traffic can proceed into the intersection…though if the cars turning left get really close to each other, and don’t allow a gap for the oncoming cars, there is really no limit to how many cars can turn left. Take my word for it, this technique is not appreciated in most other parts of the USA.
Is this the right time to add that each Aug. 31st/Sept. 1st locals know to avoid Boston. #1: the majority of apartments turnover and it is chaos, especially close to the colleges. #2: In spite of all the signage some student in a rental U-Haul truck will invariably get said truck stuck on one of the underpasses on Storrow Drive. It’s called getting Storrowed.
Now back to the snarky task at hand. NYU tour (2 years ago): apparently there are national rankings for every single little aspect of college life and our tour guide felt the need to pummel us with these. My son was not feeling it and after 20 minutes whispered to me “And NYU is ranked number 1 for use of meaningless survey results in tours.” Me: does that mean you want to be done?" Son: “Yes. And speaking of number 1, I need to go number 2. Can we find a bathroom?” My son’s use of potty humor brought tears of pride to my snarky eyes.
If you can master the crazy free-for-all intersection in Belmont outside of Boston, you are an honorary Masshole!! Embrace the creative Boston driving experience!