New Englanders I Need Your Help - The Choice has Been Made!

I'll echo the shovel in the trunk/layers of clothing for winters/bug repellent for summers. In addition, I recommend getting one of those 2-handed ice scrappers with a brush on the back for your car.

Also you may need to swap out your windshield wiper fluid for the winter. I lived in SoCal for 10 years before moving back to the northeast. I'm not sure if the last place to fill it was diluting it with water or just using stuff that wasn't rated for lower temps. Either way, the fluid kept freezing up during my first winter back until I got it replaced.

SaintFaucet wrote:

Also you may need to swap out your windshield wiper fluid for the winter. I lived in SoCal for 10 years before moving back to the northeast. I'm not sure if the last place to fill it was diluting it with water or just using stuff that wasn't rated for lower temps. Either way, the fluid kept freezing up during my first winter back until I got it replaced.

Sounds like it just wasn't made for lower temps. I don't think you could even find that up here in the summer, so once the initial replacement was done you'd be fine. Definitely a good suggestion though.

Kommissar wrote:

I'm from Rhode Island and I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Winter here is rather tame and when we are going to get hit with something you know about way ahead of time. Winter survival kits? Thermal blankets? Shovel in the car? This is New England not Alaska. ;)

Well, southern New England may be that way, but up here we get real winters and like to be prepared for them.

[size=6]Even up here we don't get huge amounts of snow very often, this year's been a bit of an anomaly in that regard. It does get really cold though.[/size]

Emerson alum, current Bostonian. Feel free to hit me up if you end up there. I can point you to neighborhoods, other pertinent info. If you live on campus you'll want to ditch the car.

Kommissar wrote:

I'm from Rhode Island and I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Winter here is rather tame and when we are going to get hit with something you know about way ahead of time. Winter survival kits? Thermal blankets? Shovel in the car? This is New England not Alaska.

...I'm actually from Alaska. And I thought I was being fairly low-key about it. I didn't bring up the block heater, and the hockey stick is for mostly for fun/self defense.

I carry a sensible kit even here in Seattle and I've been glad of it, multiple times. Yes, I rarely have to worry about appreciable amounts of snow, but I had to scrape my car windows this morning to take my son to work so I was glad to have my scraper rather than trying to fake it with a bank card like my neighbor was trying to do before I got out there.

It fits in a small bag that smooshes down into the cavity that holds the spare tire. I have a jack and tire iron that don't suck like the ones that usually come with cars these days. On top of that I carry: a kinetically charged flashlight (it has a crank, smartalec), scraper w/ brush, fix-a-flat, electrical tape, a couple garbage bags, a small first-aid kit including one of those aluminum safety blankets, and a few carefully chosen tools (you'd be amazed how many problems can be solved with a solid pair of pliers and a stubborn disposition). I need to get a new hatchet for it because I lent mine out and it was never returned, now that I think about it.

In my experience, flat tires, being stuck, other people's car problems, and general life silliness know no geographical boundary.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

Emerson alum, current Bostonian. Feel free to hit me up if you end up there. I can point you to neighborhoods, other pertinent info. If you live on campus you'll want to ditch the car.

Excellent! I will totally hit you up if I end up going there. My plan was to ditch the car if I ended up in Boston, but presently, the car option is there for the other two locations. Since I'm entering as a freshman, I will probably be living on campus despite having a few present students that live in some apartments.

Emerson is my first choice, followed by SNHU and WNEU.

Emerson has yet to get back to me, same goes for Western Washington. Upon emailing Emerson, they said I should hear from them starting this week and straight through until May 15th. The admissions counselor I emailed said they have the right to withhold telling someone until May 15th if they choose. I take that as a bad sign. So while all of my hard work to get accepted to Emerson has probably gone to waste, I am very happy with my second choice.

Once I submit my deposit before May 1st, I'm 95% sure I'll be heading to Southern New Hampshire University. Compared to everywhere else, they've gone above and beyond for me. That includes for financial aid, and even calling me periodically to check-in or ask questions, along with sending the occasional hand-written note to congratulate me on my scholarship and hard work. It feels like the right choice. And it's only an hour outside of Boston, so that's great too.

Now I just have to start working on the planning of this road trip...

Congratulations!

I'm going to miss you, but I'm so glad to see you spreading your wings. Let me know if I can help.

Congrats! Shame about Emerson, I like listening to their radio station, and they have a great location in the city.

So we'll be seeing you at a future Pinball Wizard meetup then?

shoptroll wrote:

Congrats! Shame about Emerson, I like listening to their radio station, and they have a great location in the city.

So we'll be seeing you at a future Pinball Wizard meetup then?

I will definitely be there for pinball, you can count on that.