Whenever I'd tell a company that I live in North Carolina, they would immediately associate my home with the Andy Griffith show. While it is true that a lot of NC is quite rural, I used to live in Raleigh, the capital city, which ends up being a little different than the rest of NC. I always liked Raleigh because it gave me most of the amenities of a big city, without the negative features of a big city (lots of traffic, lack of trees, unreasonably high cost of living). The move to Connecticut actually put me in a much more remote-feeling area than back home in NC, which is not what you'd think by looking at the names of the two states.
Yale is in New Haven, but living in New Haven isn't exactly the best idea in the world. So we live about 15 minutes north of New Haven (off I-95N) in a town called Branford. I call it a town because it is most definitely a town. Branford is one of those towns where it seems small enough that everyone knows each and every other person in the town very well, which is a big departure from where I used to live.
The town itself is extremely quiet, the speed limit is about 25 mph throughout the entire town which has already done a lifetime of eroding my driving patience, especially when driving behind someone who strictly adheres to the speed limit :)
We're renting a house up here in a nice little subdivision, I met a total of two of our neighbors, both of which seem very nice. A neighbor down the street has had his TV on ever since we moved in at the beginning of September (I kid you not); regardless of what time of the day or night it is, his TV is on. The subdivision is extremely quiet, so I make an effort not to make too much noise driving out in the mornings/evenings.
We're pretty close to a grocery store, a gas station and, you guessed it, a Walmart, but that's about it. It's absolutely crazy to go to the Walmart here; I went to go buy the Star Wars DVDs at around 9:30AM when they came out and I swear the entire town was at the Walmart. Finding parking there is like movie theater parking back in Raleigh. In terms of getting to any stores that would actually interest me - the closest Best Buy is three towns over, and it takes a good 45 mins to an hour to get there and back, so I tend to not leave the house too much.
The one thing that absolutely boggles my mind is a very strange phenomenon I've noticed up here: people love to leave their shopping carts all over the parking lot. Wherever you go, as long as there are shopping carts in the area, they will appear in the parking lot in parking spaces, in the middle of the isle of cars, toppled over, grouped together with 4 or 5 other carts, etc... I've never seen it this bad...ever. I used to live in New Hampshire and I didn't remember this until I asked my parents if it was ever this bad up there, and they reminded me that the grocery stores up there required a $0.25 deposit to get a shopping cart, which was refunded when you put your cart back where you got it from - I think I understand why. I would say that maybe it's just that people don't like putting carts back when it's freezing outside, but we moved here in September, and it was far from freezing in September.
The roads here are absolutely horrible for any sort of spirited driving. I always used to take the term "nice country roads" for granted, since I just assumed that all places had these wonderfully remote stretches of curvy roads where no one else drove - I guess that's not quite as common up here in the densely packed North East :)
Despite my complaints, I don't mind living up here too much as a temporary thing. I kind of like the quietness of the area and with basically nothing else to do around the town it's not too hard to focus strictly on work :)
I'm going to have to cut this one short as I've got a ton of benchmarking left to do for my second Half Life 2 article, but I'm going to try to chime in with random tidbits from life in CT as much as I can.
Take care
Yale is in New Haven, but living in New Haven isn't exactly the best idea in the world. So we live about 15 minutes north of New Haven (off I-95N) in a town called Branford. I call it a town because it is most definitely a town. Branford is one of those towns where it seems small enough that everyone knows each and every other person in the town very well, which is a big departure from where I used to live.
The town itself is extremely quiet, the speed limit is about 25 mph throughout the entire town which has already done a lifetime of eroding my driving patience, especially when driving behind someone who strictly adheres to the speed limit :)
We're renting a house up here in a nice little subdivision, I met a total of two of our neighbors, both of which seem very nice. A neighbor down the street has had his TV on ever since we moved in at the beginning of September (I kid you not); regardless of what time of the day or night it is, his TV is on. The subdivision is extremely quiet, so I make an effort not to make too much noise driving out in the mornings/evenings.
We're pretty close to a grocery store, a gas station and, you guessed it, a Walmart, but that's about it. It's absolutely crazy to go to the Walmart here; I went to go buy the Star Wars DVDs at around 9:30AM when they came out and I swear the entire town was at the Walmart. Finding parking there is like movie theater parking back in Raleigh. In terms of getting to any stores that would actually interest me - the closest Best Buy is three towns over, and it takes a good 45 mins to an hour to get there and back, so I tend to not leave the house too much.
The one thing that absolutely boggles my mind is a very strange phenomenon I've noticed up here: people love to leave their shopping carts all over the parking lot. Wherever you go, as long as there are shopping carts in the area, they will appear in the parking lot in parking spaces, in the middle of the isle of cars, toppled over, grouped together with 4 or 5 other carts, etc... I've never seen it this bad...ever. I used to live in New Hampshire and I didn't remember this until I asked my parents if it was ever this bad up there, and they reminded me that the grocery stores up there required a $0.25 deposit to get a shopping cart, which was refunded when you put your cart back where you got it from - I think I understand why. I would say that maybe it's just that people don't like putting carts back when it's freezing outside, but we moved here in September, and it was far from freezing in September.
The roads here are absolutely horrible for any sort of spirited driving. I always used to take the term "nice country roads" for granted, since I just assumed that all places had these wonderfully remote stretches of curvy roads where no one else drove - I guess that's not quite as common up here in the densely packed North East :)
Despite my complaints, I don't mind living up here too much as a temporary thing. I kind of like the quietness of the area and with basically nothing else to do around the town it's not too hard to focus strictly on work :)
I'm going to have to cut this one short as I've got a ton of benchmarking left to do for my second Half Life 2 article, but I'm going to try to chime in with random tidbits from life in CT as much as I can.
Take care
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NewHavenDude - Friday, November 19, 2004 - link
Hey Anand! Congratultions on your move to CT! I actually live in New Haven, its not that bad. :) There are some really nice parts and some not-so-nice parts... but there is so much good food! Have you had pizza from Sally's yet?radiocore - Friday, November 19, 2004 - link
welcome to CT. I live in north Haven...well, actually deployed right now, but my folks are still there. Never really noticed the shopping cart thing til you mentioned it. i thought it was like that everywhere. =pWell, if you ever get the craving for chinese food...check out Dynasty in North haven, its right across from the movie theater there ;)
Captante - Thursday, November 18, 2004 - link
Pleasure to have you as a neighbor!... I live right down the shore in West Haven so that pretty much counts.As for the shopping cart issue, you are quite correct & I hate to say it but I think its just sheer lazyness that keeps folks from putting them back..I've just gotten used to it, so to hear you comment about it is interesting... nothing like a fresh perspective.
Anyway, welcome to the area & if you ever need a tip about where to get somthing, I've lived here most of my life, so don't hesitate to ask.
msva124 - Thursday, November 18, 2004 - link
Never mind, it is further from New Haven than I thought.msva124 - Thursday, November 18, 2004 - link
Why don't you give Westport a try? It is expensive (not that that is a problem for you) but nicer than Branford.John - Thursday, November 18, 2004 - link
Welcome to Connecticut. :-)You're page is the best on the web. I mean it.
Here's a list of some helpful CT info for you.
#1 Leaving Shopping carts for other people to crash into is a right protected by the CT Constitution.
#2 Blue Laws Suck.
#3 If you go to Hartford, there's like a 4 block area of bars near Union Station. Other than that, don't go to Hartford.
#4 Our State Cops are Ill tempered bastards.
#5 We have reformulated gasoline here... It pollutes the drinking water while simultaneously decreasing gas mileage and horse power!
#6 Don’t yell, “Yankees Suck!” in a bar south of I84.
#7 Don’t yell, “Red Soxs Suck!” in a bar North of I84.
#8 Don’t race on the Berlin Turnpike.
#9 Visit Fairfield County! See how the rich people live.
#10 At lease you’re not living in Delaware.
jake - Thursday, November 18, 2004 - link
I atually am near there too, right next to Ryan in Meriden, in fact I work in Wallingford. In any event, a new Best Buy just opened in the Meriden mall with a Circuit City opening in an adjacent building. Like everyone else from around here says, if you need to know where something is just ask. :)There's a few big centers in the state, I know more of the central northern stuff cause I've never lived anywhere near the hell that is I-95.
One is Westfarms in Farmington (where I think the only Apple store in the state is). Another is Buckland Hills, up in Manchester. Those are pretty far away from you though. If you scoot up route 15 you can also find the notorius Berlin Turnpike. Where moronic teenagers race their cars on Friday nights, even though cops abound.
Like I said I'm not sure about stuff that's closer to you (though those are all within a half hour to an hour drive) but I'm sure you'll get used to it around here. Good luck getting used to the area you're living in. :)
Rich - Thursday, November 18, 2004 - link
CT is a great place to raise a family and pay taxes. You should take the train to NYC and explore. Drive up to Boston. You are close to so much.Mikecel79 - Thursday, November 18, 2004 - link
"Branford/Guilford is a clear departure from the tenamants in East Haven though!"What's wrong with people from East Haven? I'm originally from there but now live in Hamden.
I know what you mean about the shopping carts though. I used to work at the Stop and Shop in East Haven many moons ago and it would drive me crazy to see all these carts all over the place.
Aquila76 - Thursday, November 18, 2004 - link
I totally know what you mean. I live in MA and the shopping cart issues are WORSE. People will just walk their stuff home from the store with the cart. And then either toss the cart in the street or in one of the many canals.Where I live, we have a Walmart, a couple grocery stores, Kohl's, Honey Dew, McD's, BK, Wendy's, about a hundred Dunkin Donuts, and a lone Starbucks all within a 1/4 mile of each other. Not good for the techie, but great if you're hungry!