Parking near the warfield san francisco

Hi,
I'm interested in becoming a firefighter in or near Chicago. I currently have no relevant training, and from what I've seen most local departments require an EMT-P license and that you be under 34 years old at date of hire. CFD does not, but they also apparently only take applications every 5-10 years, just did last year, and it's a total crapshoot. I'm nearing 31, and see that acquiring an EMT-P is over a year long process, so I need to get started ASAP.
As far as I understand, the basic flow is getting your EMT-B, getting 6+ months of relevant work experience, and then entering an EMT-P program.
For getting my EMT-B - I currently live in Lincoln Park in Chicago, it seems Malcolm X College's Summer session program is likely my best bet? A little over $1,000, would have me completing the program at the end of July. I have an associate's degree already, so I don't believe I'd get any help from FAFSA, but I'd love to be corrected on this or pointed in the direction of any other resources to loweeliminate that cost.
There are also some educational institute programs in the suburbs, which would be difficult for me as I don't have a car. I bike everywhere (did through the winter, not worried about weather) or take public transit if absolutely necessary.
On the other hand, I see that Superior offers an 18 week EMT-B course starting April 17th, in the same general area as Malcolm X College. That would have me completing the course in mid-August, so also comparable. The downside there is that the course is free so long as you work for them full-time for 12 months after completing the program. Given from what I've seen most EMT-P programs are looking for 6 months of work experience, and I want to get through that ASAP, that's a poor tradeoff, and I also can't find any information on what it costs to just pay for the course rather than fulfill the commitment. Lots of comments on other threads about the instruction being of poor quality compared to the educational institute courses as well.
This is where I feel like I know less. It seems like, assuming I do my own courses, once I complete the EMT-B certification, I have some options in terms of work. What considerations do I need to keep in mind here if I want to become a firefighter? I see a lot of talk about IFT, 911, and ER tech. It sounds like 911 response on an ambulance would be most relevant for me, right? And Medex and Buds are the options there? I also saw some discussion on ER tech jobs often leading to your employer paying for your EMT-P program though - what do I need to know about this possibility? While keeping in mind that the ultimate goal of all of this is to become a firefighter, not to be a career EMT or hospital employee. This is all a means to an end.
I suppose I should put in a few other bits of relevant information that might help anyone reading give me better answers more aligned with my situation. I currently have a job with a very flexible schedule that pays a few $/hr more than what I see for EMS. I can schedule it around classes. So I don't absolutely need to do something like the Superior program to keep my bills paid as I go through training. I am in excellent physical shape, I am disciplined, and I am a fast learner, so I'm not worried about being overwhelmed by anything, I just want the most efficient path to completing my EMT-P and becoming a firefighter in the Chicago area.
And I am very much open to learning about any other alternate paths worth considering - I've seen people go out of state for accelerated programs and then apply for reciprocity in their state, and some interesting things about doing volunteer firefighting to get through these programs or hired through alternate means in an accelerated manner. I just don't know much about these options, if they exist for me, or where to start on finding more information.
I am trying to do my own research here and not ask to be spoonfed, but I don't know what I don't know, so any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I just got a 2023 CX-5 Preferred and was thinking about getting a dash cam. I would want to power it through the rear view mirror but wasn’t sure if this will draw power even if it’s turned off. I tested Homelink with the ignition was off and the keys nowhere near the car, and it still opened the garage, so I’m concerned a dash cam even without parking mode can draw power with the ignition off. I don’t drive too often either, so I’m wondering if even a low amount of power might drain the battery. Has anyone with this kind of dash cam set up have issues with using up the battery, especially if you don’t drive often?

Today was pretty much end game stuff. Tried the Pitt and Daily ops. The Pitt.....meh. Daily Ops.....fantastic. For the longest time(days flew by I think) just me, the evil military,(dead and alive) and a Quad Tesla fighting it out. Stuck up on a top level multi storey car park and the end was near. Around the corner I ran to come face to face with the legendary enemy,all PA and guns a blazing. I'm done for I tell ya. When around the corner come the cavalry just in time, he's a gonna and the spoils are ours. Thanks guys for coming to the rescue, you made this older guys day.

Hey guys!! I thought this would be a good sub to post this, I’m looking for a novel I was obsessed with as a teen with thee oh sees featured as a part of the plot of the novel. It follows this teen from the Midwest going to san Francisco and staying with his drug addict uncle novelist?? They go to a thee oh sees show in the book, and I remember it really ignited a period of obsession with the band for me as a teen. I’m seeing Osees play this summer and would love to revisit this book before I see them. Any leads would be appreciated! The author has written a bunch of similar novels from what I remember

Back First
As I discovered yesterday I will have to be more precise when posting these in the future, yes there is something else in the words but apparently you cannot edit the title of the post on this website, good to know.
Anyway, I thank you all for your comments so far, they brightened my days this week. Please, let me know what you think when you finish, I would be delighted to hear it; good or bad.
​
Memory Transcription: Captain Neil Campbell, United Nations ‘Black Watch’ Company #4
Date [standardized human time]: December 4, 2136
“Make very shot count, we don’t have much left!” Campbell shouted over his radio then fired at a couple of muzzle flashes in the night. Many of his troopers were using their night vision gear while others hadn’t brought it with them or had seen it shot to pieces in the fighting.
The difference between them and their enemy, they could pull back, regroup and come back. Campbell's troopers were running out of lines to retreat to. Slowly their ring around their anti-orbital interceptors had gotten tighter and tighter. Their sams fired their final missiles at a fighter and managed a final air kill. The fighter crashing into the Black Watch’s previous position now occupied by Arxur, turning them into a trail of flames, ash, and body parts.
The world around Campbell was loud chaos. Yet to him, it wasn't chaotic, it was a strange symphony, one he had prepared for and rehearsed all his life.
Campbell pulled up his rifle and fired off a few shots on his queue. Next to him a trooper was using an Arxur weapon, his own weapon having run out of ammunition. Only one mortar was still firing but Campbell wondered how many shells they had left. The Mortar was located behind them, at their "Keep". The final defense line.
Campbell saw a trooper stand up with a light AA missile only to get torn apart by a plasma shot to his face. The Arxur had learned suppression fire was useless against the discipline of the watch. Instead, they would fire off shots for their attention and then deliver a plasma shot to try to kill whoever retaliated.
Campbell picked up the missile and took aim, then sprung, fired the shot and got down before a plasma bolt whizzed where he had been seconds before. He was rewarded with an explosion and the follow up boom of a gunship slamming into the ground. The feeling of magnetism died around him.
As if the electricity in the air were suddenly ripped away. Campbell knew that was the railgun being de-powered. Its generator hit and that left them with no anti-orbital guns left or interceptors. Finally the Arxur could launch a bomb on their site and they could not stop it.
“Whose left, sound off!” His final twenty troopers replied, one after the other. He had to listen carefully above the echoes of gunshots. The original ninety-nine plus him and the Americans, reduced to twenty.
“Fall back to the keep, all troopers, fall back to the Keep.” Campbell repeated and started to move through their indentations in the ground, not really trenches but enough one could stay lower than the plane of the ground. Just enough for cover, they did not have proper time to build a real trenchline sadly.
Campbell checked his pocket for his dead man's switch, he turned it on and wrapped his belt around it to hold the switch down, then shoved it into his pocket.
They moved for the communications tent, it had an overhang of rock to cover them from above. The engineers had built a ring around it, through solid granite to make trench in the rock. Those that got there would form their final line of defense.
Campbell felt his arm, the cybernetic take another hit and fly off into the pre-dawn darkness. He shifted and resisted the instinct to go find it. It was lost to the brush and fog of war now. He arrived at the keep with his sidearm firing shot after shot, having to reload it one handed.
Only eight troopers made it to the line. Zim came charging out, firing a pistol and screaming in defiance, “Die Predator Scum!” She dove into the trench next to Campbell and continued to rise and fire, fumbling to reload when the rifle failed to keep shooting.
Campbell tossed her the last grenade he had, no longer really able to pull the pin. "Make it count!"
Zip grabbed it, yanked the pin, and chucked the time-bomb, right into a charging Arxur’s mouth and he swallowed before being torn into mist and shrapnel. Those standing near him getting peppered with the fragments pushing out of their comrade.
Campbell fired off his pistol as shape after shape of gray appeared from the darkness. The gunshots near him slowly getting fewer and fewer.
Zim laid against the trench wall beside him, pulling the trigger of her rifle. She was bleeding from an uncountable number of places and her dominant arm was hanging by her side. She was using one of her insectoid legs in place of the unnaturally twisted limp. She was bleeding from multiple places. Her rifle clicked, Campbell paused to reach over and unload the magazine for her, then slammed a new one in and she racked the bolt as he patted her on the head to indicate it was good to go.
The vestiges of dawn's light peaked over the top of the Caldera and they fought on. The entire ridge had been turned to rock-slides burying Arxur under them, now showing the desecration of nature's beauty turned into carnage. A forest fire had started and was burning out as the napalm and diesel fuel had done their job.
Black Watch lay strewn with hundreds of Arxur bodies around them. Campbell stopped hearing the crack of ’s rifle. “See you on the other side, .” Campbell felt a pang of regret for the Tilfish Mayor whom he had voluntold to be here. She was gone now, no longer could the Arxur make her suffer and she had died for her people. "You became the bravest I ever knew."
A whoosh and the feeling of extreme heat behind him had him ducking for cover. It was then he realized he couldn’t hear anything but ringing in his ears. He looked back to see the cave entrance collapsed, likely under the emergency explosives by Thompson. His helmet fell to the ground, the camera pointed back at him, watching him now as he worked down the trench firing his pistol, using the weight of it to count his remaining rounds.
A rush of adrenaline was pushing him on, despite the fact he could no longer see out of one of his eyes, half his vision just gone. He lost count of his ammo and the number of Arxur that had fallen to him.
To him it just meant he no longer had to close an eye to aim.
He saw an Arxur, nearly upon him. He pulled up his pistol and it did not fire, he looked at it to see the slide in the locked back position. Without hesitating he threw the weapon at the approaching Arxur. It smacked into the gray’s face and caused it to stagger away from aiming the rifle at him and instead to fall over when the footing became untenable.
Campbell grabbed an Arxur weapon on the ground. Just as the Arxur he hit with the pistol sat up, he put a plasma-bolt through its skull. He continued firing shot after shot, hating the slower rate of fire and feeling of heat coming off the weapon. Campbell sent three more Arxur to the ground.
Finally the rifle clicked as six Arxur approached his weapons upon him. He was bleeding from a searing burning on his temple. His shoulder had been punched but without the cybernetic arm, it didn’t make much difference. Campbell knew he was beat and fell back onto his butt, sitting down and laying against rock wall behind him.
He felt the switch in his pocket shift and went to grab it, the belt was still holding it place, just barely. It would only take a shove against it to push the belt off now. He set the switch under his thigh, against his hamstring. He secured the switch under his leg. He was sitting there, taking out his nearly empty flask of whiskey. The sounds of battle died down as he swirled the remaining liquid inside. He looked down to see his body armor had stopped three rounds by sheer luck. The rounds had hit in vastly different spots and he hadn't even noticed he'd been hit since the cyber arm had been shot off. Somehow, none had penetrated him. “Human, it is over. Surrender.”
He looked up at the speaking Arxur and considered it. They looked as exhausted as he did. Several of them were sporting wounds and bandages, thrown back into combat. He nodded to the Arxur as he slumped against the trench wall.
“Up.” One of them commanded.
Campbell laughed much to the Arxur's confusion. Campbell ignored him and casually unscrewed his whiskey flask with his lips. He took the last swig of his favorite malt. While the reptile got frustrated and jumped into the trench with him. He dropped the empty flask onto the ground between his legs and made a show of reaching for it.
“No… I don’t think I will.” He replied, sitting up and holding the detonator for the Arxur to see. His thumb now holding down the dead-man's switch. All the explosives for Sims special surprise ready to go. The Arxur looked horrified at him holding the dead man’s switch. “Nemo Me Impune Lacessit.” He spoke, two Arxur shots rang out, bullets piercing his heart and lungs. They did not know it was a bomb that would go off if he leg go of the switch.
They watched the beeping light of the switch roll between Campbell's legs to ting against his flask in the dirt. Then the light stopped.
The world as the Arxur knew it became fire, fury, and flashes. A series of explosions rippled across the Caldera. Everything a military explosives expert with a forty year long career knew how to do, was exploding.
One explosion would go off, only to set off a container of fuel to add a fireball to it and the heat would trigger several rounds of Tilfish weapons they had seized from the heat cooking it off, giving off a plasma ball. The scene repeated over and over again. Anfo, deisel fuel, incendiary rounds, Tilfish plasma, and grenades no one could carry, turned into a final send off. The Arxur scrambled to get out only to be hit by more explosives as the keep turned to a rock-slide. They had been very careful and precise to not set the charges in a way to cave in the tunnels their flock whom they were protecting were in. No explosives were within 100 meters of the entrance or any part of the tunnel that might strain it. The recording started to fade from the virtual reality simulation.
----------------------------------
The Teacher’s Voice took over for the recording as she turned the speaker off. Her adult version of events was much more graphic than her students but it gave her extra insight into a time when all was war and chaos. The Tilfish teacher had to be prepared to answer their questions and try to tone it down for the children.
This was something the Tilfish knew she would have to steel herself for if she was to witness the events and answers her pupil’s questions. She read from the script provided by the museum to bring the class out of the simulation. As child after child ranging from grade one to four, took off their VR helmet when their individual specialized version was finished depending upon age, species, and culture.
“But Campbell was turned to ash along with most of the rest of the Black Watch bodies and Arxur on the surface. The death toll was 99 Black Watch, 11 3rd Armored Cavalry, and 1 Tilfish Mayor for 9,729 Arxur Dead, 1,277 Wounded, and 303 Missing.
"Leftenant Williams would be found in the destroyed hull of the Eisenhower IFV. He had tried to get the vehicle working before his injuries put him unconscious again. In the state of his concussion he did not realize the vehicle was inoperable. He was found alive and rushed to a UN ship for emergency medical attention. He would survive and become a teacher like me.
"Two days after Campbell’s last stand; Tia, Jellio, Cleland and Hanover would make their way into the cave to join the refugees inside. On their way in, they would find the artifact of the battle, the only surviving part of any of the Black Watch members." The teacher had to smile, avoiding the fact she meant in the literal apart of their body sense. The children would realize it at some point.
"All total survivors who had been inside the Caldera; 30 Arxur raiders, 22 of the Black Watch Company #4, twenty of which were the ones escorting the civilians into the caves. In addition to this, 1 3rd Cavalry Tanker, and 4,200 Tilfish Civilians plus 2 Tilfish Volunteers.”
Sitting in the museum were fifty children from a variety of species. A system of AI that approximated things based upon eyewitness accounts, algorithms, photographs, and footage available to create all the memory engrams. Then turned it into a more enchanting story with less blood and violence than the events that their teacher watched.
This exhibit before them was called, “The Black Watch.” It was carefully curated and preserved by the Tilfish Cultural History Restoration Society. The hand was really most of a cybernetic human arm from nearly one hundred years ago. It was inside a stasis field, still wrapped in the fragments of military fatigues it was found in. The hand was placed upright into a supporting mold and the fingers had been made into an approximation of a thumbs up.
An alarm went off as the Tilfish teacher reached down to look at her phone, 3:00 pm local time. “Alright class, let’s get to the transports so we can get all of you home.” As the children filed out, three approached the glass case and looked at the cybernetic hand inside.
On the outside, near the wrist of the human cybernetic arm were words inscribed there.
‘A Scot loved a Yank, that is how your grandmothers met. Remember, from them, it matters not what you look like inside or out, but what you do that you should be judged by.’
The words were faded on the inscription but the stasis field had managed to keep them legible since the arm was found. A holographic display called up while the three near the glass to show the arm in it's absolute pristine state it had once been in.
The three children were all of different species as they leaned in close, the human broke their silence. “So it really did happen like great-grandma said it did.”
The Tilfish smiled, “Well yes, we wouldn't be here if our ancestors were not taking cover in those tunnels. We have pictures of our family in there before our grandparents met.” They both turned to their friend, Julless.
The Arxur looked down in shame, she looked away from her friends and rubbed at the back of her hand nervously, “My… ancestor was there, trying to kill your’s.”
Leia Cleland reached up and lifted up Julless’s head to face her two friends, she still tried to look away as they both smiled at Julless warmly and nodded, “Yes but that is in the past and you are not those people.” Leia smiled as Helena stepped forward on her many legs. “Yeah, look, you are our friend and honestly, that is all that counts with us. Come on, let’s not miss the transport, maybe it can stop at the park. We can play predator and prey if you want.”
Juless smiled at Julia and turned from the Tilfish to the Human, “Hey don’t look at me, I’ll have fun so long as you don’t actually bite me or my sister.”
The group took a moment to take in everything around them. The various pieces of history on display for a single battle called, Tal Reach's Last Stand.
The room full of artifacts from that day had fascinated the children. The broken down and nearly destroyed Eisenhower IFV. Pictures of where Williams had laid and the armored vehicle crews happy and doing maintenance. The display read: "A Tank is a Tanker's Home."
The next display was a blood stained bible surrounded photographs of Grissen and O’Malley talking. Footage from O'Malley's helmet set on the desk, played with audio to headphones to show the conversation they had. The display was called: "Found friends, now in heaven."
Dozens of pieces of combat footage on a variety of screens though many were covered due to their graphic nature with an age warning next to them.
One that was left open was the harrowing walk of the recon squad survivors to get through the booby-trapped caves. The entire film was nearly two hours long and showed the footage from the helmets of them traversing the caves. It was a horror movie but suddenly turned into a relief when the radios could penetrate the rock and call down. A horror movie with a happy ending full of hugs and cheers called, "A Walk through The Shadow of Death".
The twisted remains of Thompson’s radio. The recon squad fire-team B’s detonator. Dozens of dog tags from the various members were on display with the cannon to the War Kitty sitting across the length of the display, a piece of wood and several insectoid stations to sit on as a new bench. Literally sitting upon a piece of history to show it's size and weight.
“Oh come on, Leia, Juless would never. My sister is just teasing, come on, the last one to the transport is a rotten egg!” Helena grabbed onto Juless’s clawed hand and Leia’s human one with her mandibles leading them through the halls at a brisk pace from where the centerpiece of Tal Reach's Last Stand.
"A Highlander’s Hand."

A few weeks ago my front license plate was bent in half, the plastic frame was broken in half, and there was a long streak across the front of my car. I had only driven to work and back during the short time frame it happened, and we park in a garage that wouldn't allow this type of damage. I suspected I knew exactly which day the accident happened as the damage was specific to the direction my car was parked.
I revisited that spot in the parking lot and immediately found the plastic frame for my license plate. AHA! I could now pinpoint the exact day the accident happened and likely even the specific time. I reported the accident to the Administration and one of them spoke up. She stated that the day of the accident she heard a large crash. She looked out her window and saw an executive, who's organization rents a part of our building, standing between the passenger side of her car and my front bumper. Her wheel well had separated from her car and she was clipping it back in. The Administrator called out the window and asked if she needed any help and if she hit another car. The Executive responded, "No," and drove away.
I was rightfully very pissed off. I honestly don't care if someone hits my car. The parking lot is from hell and I am accepting of a little cosmetic damage. However, I am intolerant of someone hitting my car at work, being caught, lying about it, and driving away. I asked Administration to help me go talk with the Executive since she does not work for my organization. The Administrator went down first to speak with the Executive. She lied to the Administrators face and said there was no accident. The Administrator repeated several times that they had heard the crash and saw the results. It was made clear I just wanted an apology and an acknowledgement. The Executive refused.
Next, the Administrator and I went down together. I was prepared and made sure I did not ask questions but rather state facts. "My car was hit by your car."
She denied it to my face. She deflected and blamed the parking lot. She claimed there was no accident. What she didn't know is that I had already measure the damage to her car and my car. No surprise it was identical. However the proof was the paint transfer. I have an out of state license plate with a very particular shade of green. Surprise surprise the gouge on her car included the bright green from my broken license plate. I pointed all of this out to her and she continued to lie to my face. I just wanted an apology. I hate calling insurance and didn't want to deal with it. I just wanted her to be decent and say, "I'm sorry I hit your car, I should have reached out to you."
And here is my petty revenge. I decided that I absolutely would go through the hassle of filing a claim with my insurance. I asked her to provide her insurance and she gave me an expired registration. I asked for insurance again and she gave me the current registration. I asked for insurance a third time and she acknowledged she didn't have it on her. Fearing she was uninsured and I'd get nothing out of this stupid interaction I called my insurance. They looked her up and she actually did have a policy! I filed a claim with her insurance and specifically made sure it was reported as a hit and run. The insurance company sent me nearly $1000 for the damages, which honestly I can buff out with like $10 worth of supplies. I sent the Administrator a finders fee (gift) for helping me prove who hit my car.
The final revenge is that her premiums will skyrocket for the hit and run. The consequence in my state is an average increase of 50-80%.
Next time just say, "Sorry!"
​
TL;DR: Executive hit my car and ran despite being witnessed. Driver lies to my face, I file insurance claim, their premiums go up by 50-80%.
​
edit: typo

“Anyways, that’s the seventh nightmare I’ve had about the ghost of Elvis. Pretty scary, huh?”
Jerry cocked his head back and started making some Elvis “huh ahh” noises. Other guests stared at me as I spit out a mouth full of beer.
“Easy Gary, these domestic beers cost like seven bucks. Didn’t know I was dining with a celebrity.”
I began coughing and he again replied. “Smoke ya another.”
Me and Jerry have been best friends and roommates for a long time. We met in elementary school and have been inseparable since. We do our best to go to a restaurant we’ve never been to before every other month.
“Man this new restaurant looks fancy as Hell. I’m surprised we were able to get in.”
“Yeah, I slipped a twenty to the hostess.” Jerry winked. “Anyways, I gotta go use the restroom. Be right back.” He scooted back and took off.
This restaurant sure was fancy. I took in the atmosphere. The room had a warm feel and above gleamed a crystal chandelier. The wait staff seemed so great with guests. There was some unique art on the walls. I felt out of place though. I took a moment to make sure my shirt was tucked in.
Our waiter came up to me with a smile. “Your food should be out momentarily. Would you care for another cold beer?”
“I sure would. Thank you.”
We drove an hour to get here so I’m really hoping the food would be good. We just came across it while driving around.
I suddenly had a weird feeling and looked at my watch. About that time the waiter came by and out of bowl of stew in front of me.
“Here you are, sir. Some of our famous pot roast.” The waiter smiled very wide.
“I uh….I didn’t order this.”
“It comes with everyone’s entree. It’s complimentary.”
“That’s an odd dish to have before bringing out an entree. Most places would do like a tiny bowl of vegetable or some broth stuff.”
He snickered. “Well sir, we sure are not every other place.”
“Clearly not, this place is fancy.”
“Go ahead and try it.” I had a weird feeling in my stomach.
“Why didn’t you bring out a bowl for my friend too?”
“We want to make sure it comes out as fresh as possible. Why are you checking your watch so much?”
“My friend Jerry went to the bathroom. He’s been gone for about twenty minutes. He’s never in a bathroom for more than twelve.”
“Hmmm. That’s odd. Go ahead and try your stew.”
“I’m sorry. I’m a vegetarian.” That had to work.
“But you ordered the steak and lobster.” Shit, he remembered.
My mind was racing and I felt nervous. Something about Jerry being gone so long was scaring me.
“Well I won’t beg you to eat it. But it’s awfully rude to not eat food prepared for you. Remember that the food comes from somewhere.” He picked up the bowl and walked back towards the kitchen.
Bastard, I didn’t appreciate him trying to make me feel bad. I didn’t remember even seeing anything on the menu quoting they give free stew out. I looked around and seen others eating it though. Some people looked like a bunch of hogs eating slop. It must have been really good. I about went to apologize to the waiter and explain Id try it out. My phone pinged. That was odd, I hardly ever get text messages. It was from Jerry.
“Dude, get out of their now. Start the truck!”
About that time was when the waiter stood up on a chair.
“Ladies and gentleman , thank you for coming today. I do apologize and understand many of you have seen this before. But our chef is very upset about a guest refusing to eat the food that he so carefully prepared for you all. And because of that, he is ready for the hunt.
I stood up and looked around. The guests were all looking at me with smiles on their faces. The kitchen door busted open and a man came out in his chef uniform. His eyes were pitch black.
“This is the guy?” He pulled a knife out of his stomach.
“Yes, master.” The waiter nodded. The guests responded. “Yes, master.” He dropped the knife.
The tension became heavy. It was dead quiet and my heart was pounding loudly as if a drum was gonna force its way out of my chest.
I turned and sprinted. I heard the chef let out a loud screech that pierced my eardrums. I juked around people and knocked over chairs and tables a long the way I didn’t look back.
I busted through the door and sprinted through the Parking lot. I looked up and my truck and seen Jerry sitting in the passenger.
“They took my fucking foot!”
I turned back and seen the chef standing at the door and his arms began stretching all the way towards us. I cranked the truck and tried taking off.
The chefs hands were on the truck trying to pull us back towards him. Guests began running out towards us too.
“We’re gonna die, Gary. Don’t let me go like this.”
I slammed on the gas as hard as I can and began shaking the wheel around. Jerry’s window busted open and the hand was reaching towards him. I grabbed my pocket knife out of the cup holder and jammed it as hard as I could into the hand.
The chefs arms drew back and he let out a loud screech. I ran over a few of the guests that were sprinting towards us.
“What the hell happened in there!” I shouted loudly.
“I went to the bathroom and was minding my own. Some of the staff came in and jerked the guy out of the stall next to me. I put my feet up on the toilet and hoped they didn’t think I was there, but they did. The ripped out the door and got me too.
The chef severed the poor guy up part by part. I think he was here alone. All the guests eat here pretty regularly. They got my foot. I grabbed a knife near by and jabbed that son of a bitch. I was able to hobble out and hide in a dumpster. He does something to the food or something. I don’t know. But I do know I need a doctor.”
We got to the ER and nurses and doctors worked on Jerry. I tried explaining to the officer that came by what happened and where the restaurant location was. He told me that there was no restaurant in that empty lot. He knew the place. He also said he’d Call backup to check.
But the reason I’m writing this is because I am scared. I heard him make a phone call when I went out to have a smoke. He said
“They are the hospital. I will take care of it, master.”

Hey folks. Was thinking of buying a property in Tramyard, Inchicore ( near Emmet/Spar Road). It felt fine when we walked nearby, thought we did see some rough-looking people. They didn’t cause any trouble to us. However, when we looked reviews online, we were pretty shocked by how negative people think of this area in Inchicore.
I am wondering would anyone who lived/are currently living there/ know people who have lived there share if you have encountered any anti-social behaviors in that area?
Personally we do like the area considering its very close to town, has amazing parks etc.
Any advice will be deeply appreciated!
Many thanks

Overwatch League 2023 - Pro-Am Group Stage

Streams:

• https://www.youtube.com/overwatchleague
• https://www.youtube.com/overwatchcontenders (In glorious 4K streaming!)

Costreams:

• https://www.twitch.tv/avast
• https://www.youtube.com/@ReinforceOW
• Reddit-stream

Time (UTC)	Team 1				Team 2
20:00	Vancouver Titans		vs		San Francisco Shock
21:00	LA Valiant		vs		Atlanta Reign
22:00	Trick Room		vs		Florida Mayhem
23:00	Vegas Eternal		vs		Saints
00:00	Trick Room		vs		Timeless

Over.gg died, this thread is from a completely rebuilt match thread bot pulling data from liquipedia. We (and by we, I mean Watchful1) are doing our darndest to get the bot resuscitated and auto-update this thread, post match threads, etc. For today though, this shall be the official post.
Enjoy the games.

I (29M) have strong feelings for my close friend (25F), and have for almost two years. I haven't let on at all because she has a BF (they just celebrated their 2 year). I never thought this would happen, as historically her relationships have been fairly short, so I reasoned this one would be similar, and as soon as they split I would jump at the opportunity to tell her. But the longer they're together, I'm starting to question if I'll ever get that opportunity, and it's really starting to effect my mental health and quality of life.
The obvious thing would be to distance myself. Cut off all contact so I can recover and move on. But there's a problem; we're currently overseeing a many-year-long theater project together which necessitates our constant contact nearly every day. We've poured hundreds of hours and resources into it and what's worse, many of our mutual friends are also tied up in it, so it's bigger than just us now. This is obviously a giant dilemma.
I've had crushes before. I've dated before. But I've never felt this way about anyone. Our chemistry is second to none, we can laugh deeply and fully together. Even when we disagree, I like how we resolve conflict. My heart still flutters when she walks in, and I think about her constantly. She checks just about every box that I have. Our close collaboration has fostered an illusion of emotional intimacy that is both vital and confusing. Because in many ways she takes up a similar space in my life as a S/O, sans the relationship part.
It's worth noting that I'm almost positive her entire perception of me is platonic, but the jury's out on if there's genuinely no potential for attraction there, or if that's simply a means to preserve and compartmentalize the role that I play in her life.
In any case, I've tried dating other women, but my feelings are so strong, that no one comes close. Also I question if it's fair to start a new relationship solely as a means to get over my feelings. On good days, I'm able to ignore it, and on bad days, it's almost intolerable. After two years, having so much unactualized love for someone is becoming progressively more uncomfortable/harder to hide, and I question if it's sustainable in the long term.
I get the impression that her relationship with her BF is functional. I don't quite feel the burning passion that you would expect from a 2+ year relationship in the way she talks about him. So, in the rosiest possible scenario, if I were to speak my heart, perhaps it would present her with another option she had never considered before, and maybe she would appreciate the boldness of it? Or, it could come off as deeply selfish and myopic for me to put her in that position, and potentially erode a vital friendship that is by all accounts thriving and productive.
I vacillate daily on which option to choose. If they never break up, or even get married, can I live with the reality that I cared so much for someone and never told her? Conversely, if I truly care about her, perhaps that's precisely the reason I shouldn't tell her; to avoid putting her in an impossible and inconsiderate position.
So what do you think? Should I throw a molotov cocktail into what is by all accounts a vital collaboration and friendship? Or do I continue to live with it, and try to find healthier ways to cope?
TLDR: Should I confess my 2 years of romantic feelings to my close friend and collaborator despite her having a boyfriend? Or try to find other ways to cope, as we continue to work together as friends?

Hello, It's been around a week since I last posted. Sorry for the wait, it's just hard to post this since...Well. I guess you will have to see for yourself.
If you haven't seen previous parts of my story then go here:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8.
Darius has also made some posts, if you wish to see his perspective, go here:
Part 1,Part 2.
​
As I walked into the motel, I saw Bryson,Darius,Martin and Jayden sitting at a table near the front desk, discussing what to do. I quietly walked closer but then I heard the door creak behind me. Turning around, I saw 2 military guards enter the room along with a very beaten and bruised Eddie.
"Sorry i'm late, the facility has been overthrown and we cannot return anytime soon". He said
The soldiers glanced at Eddie, expecting him to say Just Kidding or something but he only had a grim look on his face as he pulled out what looked like a blue oval that was around 3 feet in diameter.
"As you may all know, The Pilgrim has harnessed power from Yellowstone Volcano and we need to destroy it". Eddie said, "This is a bomb that if placed into the Caldera, will cut off the Pilgrims power and stop it from becoming even more powerful". Eddie stated.
"Wait- you're dismissing the elephant in the room here, Director". Jayden said.
"Yea, what happened at that facility of yer's"? Martin asked.
"Kyle and a couple others have been rallying a secret group to overthrow the facility and use it for their own purposes. They tried to kill me but I escaped and took a helicopter with my trusted guards to Yellowstone so we could finish the job here". Eddie stated, "We need to kill this thing before it escapes the National Park-". Eddie went to say but I cut him off.
"You want our help NOW?! I'm not gonna do your dirty work and risk me and my friend's lives". Darius snarled.
I watched as his hand twitched, I remembered how my father used to do the same thing.
"We will help you, but on one condition Eddie". I stated.
Darius and Bryson looked at me in shock.
"After this mission, we NEVER help you again and we wish to do what we want, and not be restrained by the facility". I said boldly.
The director chuckled and said, "Yea, sure, it's not like you're asking for something big but I expected nothing less from you". Eddie smirked.
"A deal's a deal". Eddie stated and held out his hand for me to shake.
We shook hands and Eddie told us his plan...
Martin and Jayden were to Distract the Pilgrim using the helicopter that held 2 large mini-guns. The helicopter looked oddly familiar. Me, Bryson and Darius were tasked with reaching the Caldera and Eddie and his soldiers were to set off a large explosion at the motel when Martin and Jayden lured the Pilgrim nearby. Before they explode the motel, Me, Bryson and Darius are to set off the bomb, weakening the pilgrim. Once the mission was over, we were all to meet up near the destroyed motel.
I thought the plan was pretty good but I had a question on my mind.
"We don't know how to set off the bomb". I said to Eddie.
"Oh- uh, It's really easy, just press the Orange button at the bottom of the bomb. It will set a 30 second timer so you can get away from the explosion radius". Eddie said.
"Wait wait wait, Are you all forgetting something actually IMPORTANT"??! Bryson said, clearly annoyed.
"We need weapons"! He said when nobody responded.
One of the guards sighed as they took out a large case filled with a large water gun and 3 water bottles for everyone.
"W-What the hell are these gonna do"?! Bryson asked.
"They are actually extremely effective against the Pilgrim since it's immune to regular bullets. This is a prototype of H209, Which is water that is unable to turn into a gas and is extremely cold". Eddie stated.
"Isn't that basically liquid nitrogen or something-" I asked but Eddie cut me off.
"There's no time for dumb questions, we've delayed the plan long enough. Lets go". Eddie stated.
And with that, we were all led out of the motel. Darius was given the bomb because it was extremely heavy even for 2 trained guards. Me and Bryson held our water guns close but then I heard Bryson whisper something to me.
"Hey, you still got her"? He asked.
"Oh, yeah sure". I said, handing him his desert eagle.
He gave me his water gun as some sort of trade off.
We watched as the helicopter flew above and went slowly out of sight.
We had no interruptions for the first half an hour into the forest, For some reason, Yellowstone National Park was eerily quiet despite us being in a forest. I couldn't even find any animals.
We were walking through a tight passageway with a lot of trees and rocks in the way. Darius couldn't just brush the trees out of the way since he was holding the bomb so we had to do things the hard way. Me and Bryson managed to get past but Darius was having a bit of trouble. It took a couple of minutes before we got him through the tight squeeze but we managed.
"Wait, I just remembered, How are we supposed to know when the pilgrim is at the motel". I asked, my stomach tightening into a knot
"Don't start having a panic attack on us" Bryson joked, pulling out a radio from his pocket.
"Oh, phew". I sighed.
"Hey, Darius you've been pretty quiet, how are you holding up"? I asked.
"Something is off". Darius said.
"What do you-" I went to say but then a large Sasquatch came out of the nearby treeline.
"Is that Bigfoot"?! I asked in shock.
Nobody had time to answer me as Bigfoot ran straight towards us, fist's balled, ready for a fight.
Bryson quickly took out his desert eagle and shot Bigfoot in its eye.
"RUN"! Bryson shouted.
We ran through the forest, hoping to get some distance from the thing. Eventually we took a break and Bryson took out a map. Conveniently, we were pretty close to Yellowstone Volcano. We continued running towards the location and eventually we reached a familiar clearing.
We thought we were in the clear when suddenly, Many lava creatures emerged from the Caldera and ran towards us, letting out terrifying screeches.
Bryson tried shooting them with his desert eagle but it barely did anything. I remembered the water guns and handed one to Bryson and began firing at the creatures.
It took a couple shots to kill even one of them but we were holding up well against the endless horde.
We heard a radio crackle to life around 3 minutes into the battle.
"Guys, you have 1 minute to set off the bomb". Eddie said from the radio.
I quickly handed Bryson my water gun and told him to cover us. I grabbed onto Darius's back as he started running towards the Caldera. Me and Darius were halfway towards the Caldera when a couple of the lava monsters noticed us and chased us. They were getting closer and closer despite Darius's immense speed but we heard a couple shots go off from behind and we were no longer being pursued. We quickly reached the Caldera and Darius leapt into the air, pressing the button and thrusting the bomb into the middle of the Caldera, mid air.
We landed on the other side of the Caldera and we heard all the lava monsters screeching as they died. We all then heard a loud screech from the Pilgrim as it lost lots of its power.
Bryson ran over but suddenly, as he was halfway around the Caldera to reach us, Lava tendrils erupted from the Caldera and began attacking us.
Darius was grabbed and yanked off his feet and I desperately grabbed him and held onto a nearby tree that looked pretty sturdy.
Bryson saw what was happening and shot at the lava tendrils that held Darius. It worked and Darius only suffered some burns on his leg that healed quickly. I looked back at Bryson to see him desperately trying to reload his water guns before a tendril reached out to grab him.
"BRYSON"! I screamed and ran towards him but it was already too late. I watched as the lava tendril grabbed onto Bryson and I heard his screams as his body started burning before our very eyes.
Darius ran towards me and prevented me from getting closer as more lava tendrils were reaching out towards us.
I watched as with one final effort, Bryson threw his desert eagle towards my direction and it landed a couple feet away. I picked it up and looked at it mournfully. The tentacles were getting closer but I didn't care, it seemed as if the entire world had stopped. The tendrils were about to grab me when Darius picked me up and ran towards the direction of the motel. I looked back to see the lava tendrils slowly shriveling up and turning into obsidian.
I closed my eyes and cried silently into Darius's shoulder as he ran back towards the motel. It only took a couple minutes before we reached the motel. We saw that the Pilgrim had grabbed the helicopter and Eddie and the guards were fending off some lava monsters. There was a detonation lever a couple meters away. Darius ran towards the lever but was suddenly slapped away by one of the Pilgrims lava tendrils. I watched as the pilgrim crushed the helicopter and 2 people jumped towards the ground.
I ran over to see if they were ok and saw that Martin was shaking Jayden.
"No...No....Jayden WAKE UP"! Martin said, holding Jayden.
I didn't want to look at the sight anymore and I quickly ran over to help Darius but realized we were surrounded by lava creatures. I remembered that Bryson had the water guns last and for the first time, I gave up. I sat down near Martin and closed my eyes. I wondered if i'd finally see my father again. A smile formed on my face as I imagined seeing my father and Bryson again. I was interrupted from my fantasy as Darius slammed through the lava monsters, grabbing me, Martin and Jayden and ran towards the lever.
"Whatever you do, Make sure to hit the LEVER" Darius roared as the lava tendril slammed into him again. He threw all of us forward and towards the lever. Martin was too busy trying to see if Jayden was ok so it was up to me to press the lever. With effort, I ran towards the lever, already exhausted from everything that had happened. I reached out and touched the lever before being grabbed by my other arm from a lava tendril.
I screamed in agony as I held onto the lever for dear life. With enormous effort I pressed the lever down and the motel exploded.
Debri went everywhere, trees collapsed and everyone was blasted back. The pilgrim was currently on top of the motel, using it as a height leverage and to be able to attack more people at once but now the Pilgrim was blasted into the air and collapsed onto the building, The lava tendrils shriveled up and turned into obsidian as the pilgrim was trapped in its own creation. The pilgrim started laughing maniacally as Darius walked towards the Pilgrim cautiously and rammed his claws into the Pilgrim, finally killing him. The Pilgrim let out one last demonic screech.
I grunted and tried to get up but my burnt arm and my legs covered in rubble along with my exhaustion forbade me from doing such. Eddie and his guards were the only ones who were not extremely close to the blast since they were fighting off lava creatures from the forest but one of his guards was crushed by a falling tree.
​
It's been around a week since that happened. I'm still recovering from my wounds and finally found the will to post this. I'm currently with Darius, Eddie, Martin and Jayden. Yea, we managed to find a hospital and we all got patched up with most of my money earned from working at facility 14. Jayden had a concussion and broke both his legs but he was going to make a full recovery. He is in a wheelchair currently. The facility has been taken over by some group of people and I fear the day they go to look for us. We are not ready for any attacks from anyone at this point. I got the phone I stole a while back recharged. I got out of the dead guys account as sometimes I'd find messages from his wife asking if he was ok.
We are staying with Bryson's family right now. They live in a two story house that has a warehouse that Darius stays in. You might be wondering why and how we found Bryson's family and i'll tell you. On the desert eagle that Bryson threw to me, an address was etched onto the side. I didn't notice it before and when I informed his family what happened, they didn't take it that well but they understood his wishes and allowed us to stay with them for around a month if we wanted to.
As I look out from the balcony I wonder how Bryson and my father think of me right now. Despite everything that happened, me, a 16 year old, has survived despite all odds.
I walked downstairs to see Eddie waiting to talk to me.
"hey, kiddo". He started, "I know we made a deal but we could really use your help getting the facility back under my control-" He went to say but I cut him off.
"You're still asking for help!? Despite being in the house of a man who died for me and Darius. You owe us, why should any of us do more for YOU"! I ranted angrily.
Darius walked into the room and accidentally bumped his head against the ceiling again.
"What's going on here" Darius asked.
"Travis, you're missing the point here! If they release those freaks-". Eddie was cut off by Darius slamming his fist into Eddie, sending him crashing into the wall. He rubbed his chin as he slowly got up.
"It's not our problem anymore". I stated.
"That's where you're wrong, you didn't complete the mission..." Eddie started.
"What do you mean"? I asked, confused.
"You said you would help me on the condition that after you helped me you would be free to do whatever you wanted. You're not done helping me yet and the deal isn't complete until we get the facility back under control. So you're helping me or the facility will still hunt you down and kill you and your friends". Eddie stated.
I was appalled at how he was twisting everything. Knowing that I no longer had a choice, I sighed and agreed.
I'm not sure what will happen next but i'll be sure to keep in touch... I promise.

I 24F and my husband 30M recently got married.
Everything went great until there was a fight towards the end and we all had to leave but we hung out in the venue parking lot for a bit. Husband was attending to his friend who got injured in the fight while I was talking to the guests were out there. At one point I was joking with one of the his groomsmen and he was trying to make it hard me for to get our gift boxes from him so I chased him around for maybe a minute until he fell and I get the gifts.
My husband left after we got to the hotel and went home without saying a word to me. I had no idea what happened because I had done nothing wrong and didn't even think that situation could've had anything to do with it I thought it was maybe the fight but either way I was pissed. A girlfriend had to stay with me there that night so I would have a ride back home about 30 minutes away.
Fast forward to when I get home the next day. I ask him to explain himself and he simply tells me he wants nothing to do with me because it "looked bad" and one of his other 'friends' had pointed it out to him explaining she would never do something like that. He also explained that that specific groomsmen's had sex with one of his exes in the past which I did not know. We still haven't spoken days later as I've explained myself and there's nothing else I can say but I will hear him on the phone talking to friends saying how it was a fairly tale ending between me and the groomsmen and it opened his eyes to things. Apart from him loudly saying all of these things near me, he’s removed his ring and has blocked me on everything including my number so if he’s not here I can’t even get in contact with him if needed. I decided to just walk around and ignore him unless necessary because if I say anything it’s going to be something ugly and unproductive even though I want to talk he is clearly unwilling.
I've talked to a couple girlfriends and one things I'm completely right in understanding what he is saving he feels but also being pissed at how he is handling it and agrees I shouldn’t engage. The other thinks his actions are justified and I shouldn't be mad and should keep trying to talk to him rather than ignoring him until he stops his behavior. AITA?

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Hey, I am a resident of Bonney Lake, Washington. Our school district has published a report talking about where people are moving here from (as we need to build new schools) and more people are moving from Louisville, Kentucky than any other city in the country (3x more than the second city on that list which is San Francisco).
So I’m just wondering why are so many Kentuckians moving here? We love all of the new people moving here, you make our city great. I’m just a resident who’s wondering, I’m not an official anything. Is there a company relocating to our area? Are y’all in dire need of lots of gray, wet weather? 😁

Driving in Costa Rica is scary for many newcomers. It is the 4th worst place in the world to drive. So fears aside, what are some tips to understand the life of a driver there? It is a long post, but I guarantee you that it will be entertaining as not only there are tips but also anecdotes.
Costa Rica was a place with farms in 19th century and roads were built around these farms to make horses and carts and from there it evolved to a city, which means that going around the block in many areas takes a long time. Farms were built so you see lots of streets getting into the farm that are dead ends.
Why infrastructure is in such poor condition
In 1948 a dynasty of politicians, 2 parties composed by the elite started to alternate themselves in power. So money started to go to their pockets instead of becoming infrastructure. So they build roads and then they fix pipes and break it. Or they intentionally plan to build some sections poorly so pot holes appear and there is company revenue in road maintenance reparis. There are many ongloing corruption cases where the elites are using all their power to evade justice in very unethical ways or use media to distract attention from the most important cases. So the final result is decades of poor urban planning, and good roads where you suddenly have a pot hole that will break your car, or unfinished works that could endanger you, or just roads without maintenance for years which had to be fixed by local population.
There is a curious anecdote from more than 20 years ago. The factory of jelly products, El Angel was formed by South American expats who did care about making a difference in the community. The road to Sarapiqui was in poor condition, so they offered municipality to pay half the price of a road. They needed that road to bring products out to the city. The project cranked up and the company started to pour a few milimeters of asphalt instead of the 6 cm thick layer it should have. The El Angel engineer noticed that and demanded to meet the correct specs. The company tried to dismiss him, but then he said that if that was the case, only the municipality would pay half the price, since their donation would not take place. So they were literally FORCED to build meeting minimal engineering specs.
This is why Costa Rica infrastructure does not look like South Korea. It has been decades of a corrupt oligopoly having control of infrastricture projects. And the toxic corrupt environment has not been fixed in this environment. If you want a stressful life, go to work there at MOPT. Politics is still corrupt no matter which party rules.
End result, infrastructure is like driving in the videogame Motorstorm apocalypse with utility poles in the street, Sinkholes in the street and surprises here and there, and other surprises. Did I mention it is the 4th worst place in the world to drive.
With a vehicle fleet growing 7% per year and streets not growing, it became cluttered and traffic jams are terrible. So do not drive if you do not need to. Or enjoy the life of spending hours in a traffic jam. This is especially true if you need to go to the airport to go back home.
Try to train yourself using Motorstorm Apocalypse for Playstation. It is a great game to deal with infrastructure susprises like the ones you will find in Costa Rica.
A decadent justice system
Since the 1980s the trend of setting criminal offenders free after the arrest made crime to go unpunished. Kids started to learn that stealing has no consequence and dishonesty started to htrive, so if you leave your stiuff unattended in a mall in the city, it is likely that you get your stuff stolen, not by criminals, but ordinary people. It is not that all people are dishonest but enough people are.
In march 2023 US government issued a crime alert for Costa Rica

EEUU emite alerta de seguridad por aumento de crimen en Costa Rica

Criminals are sexist and xenophobic, and I am not using political definitions. They literally target women because they think women are weak, and they target foreigners because they think foreigners are rich. They do not feel that stealing is bad and they believe in using the force and they are entitled and vengeful.
Human rights NGOs here defend the rights of criminals, but not the rights of tourists and honest locals.
Close your windows, do not leave objects inside your car when you are not in it. And learn about where crime is more present. For example, Quepos and Manuel Antonio are known for having surf and tourists, but not too many people will tell you it got filled with crime there too.
Motorcycles everywhere and other demons
In a cluttered city where traffic jams turned streets into parking lots, people started to buy motorcycles and developed the habit of invading opposite lanes or use lines between lanes as a mototcycle lane.
So you will see bikers passing you in the left and in the right, and if you switch lanes, not only you must watch for other cars, but look motorcycles coming behind. They will get upset if you "invade their lane" as they feel entitled and they may start a fist fight or damage your vehicle if they get upset. Many of these bikers do not have license, and the police parking lots are fuilled with motorcycles for this reason, and many of them come from slums or poor neighborhoods where issues are solved with fist fights.
With cars it depends on where you drive. For example, Desamaparados canton has a culture of such fist fighting and bullying your way in the street. So if you drive in a place with such subculture, you may expect drivers to have that subculture. And these people do not stay always inside the canton, so you may find them elsewhere, just a matter of luck.
If you see people doing bad maneuvers that should even look like going against the law, stay calm and stay away, let them pass. You do not want to have a bad day or spend your day in a fight with some uncivilized trash people.
What makes them trash? The subculture of crime polluted people. Also a cluttered street and long hours of jams stress people. So more than just evil, what you have is a lack of mental health in the street, to a point where people may get violent in the cities.
So you need full awareness as if you were in a combat zone. Look front sides and rear and always know where all vehicles are around you. If they get in your way or they do dangerous things that would earn them a Darwin award, stay away from them and let them pass, because you do not want to deal with a crash or insurance paperwork, because that is not what you came to do.
Driving is a necessary annoyance to go to point B from point A. So, survive and once you are at point B, enjoy your trip.
If you planned to ride a motorcycle, do not. Life is not safe there if you ride one. Many drivers are aggressive and will not respect you.
Drivers do terrible driving, but most believe they are better drivers than everyone else. You even notice how bad they are when they drive a small car and they have problems to park in a spot designed for a big car.
Driving in slippery roads
When it starts to rain, even if it is a light rain, water will go under oil drops, so street becomes as slippery as it would with a heavy rain, even if it looks dry. So drive half the speed you would drive normally. This would save your life.
Unless you need to drive in rough terrain with a 4x4, rent a sedan because lower cars are more stable. It is easier to tip over a big car than a sedan. It happens in 2 ways. During collisions, big cars tend to tip over, and in case of evading maneuvers, big cars tip over more easily to the sides. Remember, it is Costa Rica, full of curves, not a flat desert in USA.
Check the tires because you will need to have the best grip.
If you drive above 40kph, your only option is to hit the brakes if needed. Evading may get you killed, especially in these streets.
Increasing your chances of survival
There are 3 things that cause 70% of deaths in Costa Rican streets:

• Not obeying traffic signs. Not obeting traffic lights or a stop sign cause lots of crashes. So obey traffic signs yourself and use the claxon to warn others as you get close to an intersection and do not drive too fast.
• Invading opposite lane. Head on collisions are one of the main causes of death. Going off road will usually be better than a head on collision. When I learned to drive I learned the priorities to evade. Cliffs, pedestrians, other vehicles, and pot holes at last. Memorize this hierarchy and you will be able to save yourself from a lot of trouble. I use to drive behind a truck that drives at the speed I want to drive, so any invading vehicle would crash against the truck and not me.
• Speeding. Crashing at 40hoh is like falling from a second floor, you get hurt but you may survive. Crashing at 60kph is like falling from 6 floors, you can only use breaks and keep driving in the same direction because streets are narrow to evade anything. Crashing at 90kph is like falling from 13th floor, not survivable. Crashing at 120kph is like falling from 22 floors.

There are some miracle cases like the case of a motorcycle driver near the airport who saw a traffick light going yellow and he accelerated. But red reached him and a car came out, so he crashed at 120kph and he spent years learning to walk.
If you do not engage in any of these 3 behaviors and you protect yourself against those who do, then you increase your survival chances.
Health insurance
There is a government institution called CCSS that provides public healthcare. For foreigners who plan to stay longer, getting a "seguro voluntario" (voluntary insurance) is a good option. basically you declare yourself as a freelancer with an estimated income, which is used to calculate the monthly fee.
May be for things like a surgery or chronic or rare disease it may take forever, but for most common health problems it is a great option. What common problems? You got diarrhea because you ate a bad food, you had an accident at home and got hurt, etc.
It will save lots of money. You do not need to worry about bills and most common medicines are covered.
The only catch is that seguro voluntario is voluntary to join, but to get out you need to prove them that you got hired by a company in Costa Rica, which will pay your insurance from that point on. Still, even if you need to pay it forever, it is always a great option to have a very affordable healthcare service. This monthly fee is the only price to use the service, so you do not care about money when you are sick.
This is especially useful if you send your kid to take college in Costa Rica using public school system that is free. No debt. Just tell your kid to not consume substances because I mentioned that criminals are xenophobic, so your kid will need to stay away from these troublemakers that will try to take advantage of foreigners. And CCSS healthcare is a great way to protect your kid. So free college and cheap healthcare will save your kid from debt and health problems. Check how to make college in Costa Rica valid in your country.
I hope you stay healthy, but if you have issues, CCSS insurance is a nice option for non complex health issues. If you plan to live in Costa Rica, I really advise to get health from CCSS at least as a backup plan, and if you want to use private medicine, that is up to you.
Epilogue
I have tried to be honest about Costa Rica. I could have sugar coated itand appeal to the trope of Costa Rica Pura Vida and Essential Costa Rica, but I preferred to tell you how things are. Most of people in all nations are usually good people, but there are situations that may not be that nice.
I feel that between the deterioration of making a living conditions, traffic jams, protection towards criminals, and lack of mental health, Costa Rica is getting less pura vida for locals. And that impacts tourists too.
Still Costa Rica is not the worst place in the world. It has supervised banks where balances are monitored more transparently than in other developed countries, so regulators know exactly what happen with banks and are able to tackle financial crisis more effectively. Everything is close, so you do not have to drive miles to buy something. And food is fresh. It is not like going to a big country and eat a sandwich with vegetables that remained one week in a fridge after a long trip in a truck. So it also is harder to have empty shelves, and if they eventually, buying elsewhere is easy as distances are not too long.
Living in "condominio" (groups of apartment buildings or houses with or without parking and other amenities and a fence around) is better as they have security guard. Houses do not.
Having a car is a must unless there is a good bus service near you to connect you to places of interest. That is very rare to find. So a car is needed. It is better to buy a "seminuevo" car from car agency (new cars are not worth it) and save money to avoid debt. Used cars are a hassle in Costa Rica as they try to sell you garbage, and via internet you may get scammed in Costa Rica. And finding a reliable mechanic is like finding a honest politician. So consider finging a reliable mechanic as part of the car purchase.
Obviously you will need a parking lot, so consider that when renting a place. Learn with locals which are places where criminals live (almost everyone knows that), and find a place away from these places.
And make sure you have the best tires with the best grip. In Costa Rican street grip of good tires is one of the best cost effective tools to protect yourself from an accident.
The best way to live is to be a contrarian. Instead of going where everyone goes, do the opposite, like taking a trip during low season. That way a hotel and swimming pool and restaurant will be almost just for you. And as you are not with the crowd, you will also not be in the traffic jam with other people. And by doing so you are helping a business to survive as you are a customer that helps them to have some revenue in low season. So plan trips in non holidays.
If you want to get the best prices for groceries, Costa Rica government has an app here. You indicate a location and product and it will tell you which are the best places to buy. That will make your life more affordable now that USD is going down.

Recently I had a new Aldeez store open near to me, and I had one successful dive awhile back around dinnertime, but I had been spotted by an employee as they have windows near the dumpster. It was a successful dive, I got about 12-13 pounds of Roma tomatoes, with about 10 usable pounds out of that.
I'm wondering, do stores typically prosecute for dumpster diving if I were to back my car up and load it after store hours? I (and my license plate) would undoubtedly be on video, which is why I am asking the question. Would it be safer to park nearby and go on foot?

A couple months back, I wrote about the gap between how much MLB teams have been making from their Regional Sports Network (RSN) broadcast partners and the number of viewers that actually watch their regular season games, on average. Since then, we've learned that not only is Sinclair's Diamond Sports Group (14 Bally Sports networks) indeed filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and starting to miss rights fee payments to some teams, but Warner Bros. Discovery (three AT&T SportsNet channels) is also filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy to get out of the RSN business immediately.
Last week, Forbes published its latest round-up of MLB financial estimates that included their full accounting of the RSN landscape for 2022. I've updated my spreadsheet with a new tab populated with Forbes' estimates, and I also looked up as much reasonably reliable info about how many subscriber households these RSNs were drawing subscriber revenue from to add more context to how much of a problem this is going to continue to be for MLB, regardless of how good the Nielsen ratings are.
"But aren't TV ratings a direct correlation to success?"
No, not with the distorted manner in which these RSNs are drawing most of their revenue. Nielsen ratings measure what percentage of TV viewers are watching a given block of programming. If the local ballclub is getting a 5 share for a prime-time regular season game broadcast, that's comparatively very strong compared to re-runs of House Hunters or Law & Order in syndication. But all that does is show that the fewer and fewer people still subscribing to cable are using it to watch more baseball than Swamp People or Storage Wars. Ratings are used to price ads, but ads are less than 15% of the revenue for the RSNs. RSNs get almost all their income from the subscriber fees paid to them by the cable or satellite operators for each subscriber household receiving the RSN among their bundle of 200-something channels.
As cord-cutting accelerates, the revenue from those subscriber fees will continue to get smaller and smaller. Baseball on cable is still a multi-billion-dollar business, especially in the larger markets where teams own their own channel (such as YES, NESN, SportsNet LA, & Marquee). These outfits are much better situated to ride out the transition away from the cable bundle revenue model toward a direct-to-consumer streaming future, but the market headwinds of a shrinking cable subscriber base will come for them all sooner or later.
With that in mind, here is the updated table of doom based on Forbes' recent reporting (as before, the Blue Jays are omitted because my source does not include them among the data reported):

RSN	Market	Team	Avg Households (2022 per Forbes)	RSN Rights Fee (2022 per Forbes)	Payroll (2022 per Forbes)	Revenue (2022 per Forbes)	Operating Income (2022 per Forbes)	Per Sub 6 Month Value (85:15)	Per Sub 12 Month Value (85:15)
Bally Southwest	Dallas	Rangers	21,000	$111,000,000	$165,000,000	$366,000,000	$58,000,000	$748.81	$374.40
Bally Florida	Miami	Marlins	11,000	$49,000,000	$104,000,000	$23,800,000	-$500,000	$631.06	$315.53
NBC Sports California	Oakland	A's	12,000	$53,000,000	$70,000,000	$212,000,000	$29,000,000	$625.69	$312.85
AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain	Denver	Rockies	15,000	$57,000,000	$168,000,000	$286,000,000	-$9,100,000	$538.33	$269.17
Bally Arizona	Phoenix	Diamondbacks	20,000	$68,000,000	$121,000,000	$276,000,000	$30,000,000	$481.67	$240.83
MASN†	Washington	Nationals†	21,000	$61,000,000	$180,000,000	$356,000,000	$45,000,000	$411.51	$205.75
Bally West	Los Angeles	Angels	47,000	$112,000,000	$196,000,000	$371,000,000	$36,000,000	$337.59	$168.79
AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Pirates	28,000	$61,000,000	$81,000,000	$262,000,000	$55,000,000	$308.63	$154.32
MASN	Baltimore	Orioles	29,000	$61,000,000	$83,000,000	$264,000,000	$67,000,000	$297.99	$148.99
Bally Ohio	Cincinnati	Reds	27,000	$48,000,000	$138,000,000	$250,000,000	-$9,600,000	$251.85	$125.93
Marquee Sports	Chicago	Cubs	57,000	$99,000,000	$174,000,000	$451,000,000	$57,000,000	$246.05	$123.03
SportsNet LA	Los Angeles	Dodgers	120,000	$196,000,000	$269,000,000	$581,000,000	$14,000,000	$231.39	$115.69
ROOT NorthWest	Seattle	Mariners	68,000	$100,000,000	$135,000,000	$363,000,000	$86,000,000	$208.33	$104.17
NBC Sports Bay Area	San Francisco	Giants	64,000	$92,000,000	$179,000,000	$421,000,000	$75,000,000	$203.65	$101.82
NESN	Boston	Red Sox	68,000	$97,000,000	$242,000,000	$513,000,000	$72,000,000	$202.08	$101.04
Bally Southeast	Atlanta	Braves	78,000	$100,000,000	$206,000,000	$425,000,000	$51,000,000	$181.62	$90.81
Bally Detroit	Detroit	Tigers	47,000	$60,000,000	$158,000,000	$260,000,000	-$26,000,000	$180.85	$90.43
Bally Kansas City	Kansas City	Royals	37,000	$45,000,000	$112,000,000	$26,000,000	$33,000,000	$172.30	$86.15
Bally SUN	Tampa Bay	Rays	52,000	$56,000,000	$119,000,000	$248,000,000	$9,500,000	$152.56	$76.28
NBC Sports Chicago	Chicago	White Sox	58,000	$60,000,000	$213,000,000	$276,000,000	-$53,000,000	$146.55	$73.28
NBC Sports Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Phillies	131,000	$125,000,000	$255,000,000	$398,000,000	-$3,700,000	$135.18	$67.59
Bally Great Lakes	Cleveland	Guardians	59,000	$55,000,000	$91,000,000	$268,000,000	$40,000,000	$132.06	$66.03
Bally San Diego	San Diego	Padres	51,000	$47,000,000	$243,000,000	$324,000,000	-$53,000,000	$130.56	$65.28
Bally North	Minneapolis	Twins	47,000	$42,000,000	$172,000,000	$267,000,000	-$27,000,000	$126.60	$63.30
Bally Wisconsin	Milwaukee	Brewers	43,000	$33,000,000	$14,900,000	$294,000,000	$23,000,000	$108.72	$54.36
AT&T SportsNet Houston	Houston	Astros	109,000	$73,000,000	$207,000,000	$407,000,000	$44,000,000	$94.88	$47.44
Bally Midwest	St. Louis	Cardinals	91,000	$59,000,000	$174,000,000	$358,000,000	$43,000,000	$91.85	$45.92
YES	New York	Yankees	231,000	$143,000,000	$262,000,000	$657,000,000	$16,000,000	$87.70	$43.85
SNY	New York	Mets	180,000	$88,000,000	$288,000,000	$374,000,000	-$138,000,000	$69.26	$34.63
AGGREGATE			1,822,000	$2,251,000,000	$4,819,900,000	$9,577,800,000	$563,600,000	$175.02	$87.51

† The Nats remain embroiled in their protracted arbitration case for their RSN revenue with MASN.
As before, the calculations above assume all the RSNs operate with that same ratio of subscriber to advertising revenue at a 85% subscriber to 15% ads:

{ ( [RSN Rights Fee] ÷ [Months of Service] ) ÷ [Avg Households] } × 85% 

That's all a thought exercise to imagine what it would cost to structure a DTC streaming service for each local MLB club to retain its prior revenue from the RSN rights fees. That's clearly not going to happen, and we already know it won't all happen it once. We also know that the number of viewers for the average game is not the same as the number of potential subscribers to a DTC streaming service.
Let's examine the gap between the number of cable subscribers (for a selection of the teams for whom I was able to source reasonably trustworthy subscriber counts) compared to their average viewership over the last four years:

RSN	Market	Team	Avg Viewing Households (2019-2022)	RSN Total Subscribers	Subscribers to Avg. Viewers Ratio
MASN†	Washington	Nationals	25,012	3,000,000†	120:1
MASN†	Baltimore	Orioles	38,123	3,000,000†	79:1
NBC Sports Chicago	Chicago	White Sox	53,837	3,500,000	65:1
ROOT NorthWest	Seattle	Mariners	50,664	3,200,000	63:1
NBC Sports Bay Area	San Francisco	Giants	65,957	4,000,000	61:1
SNY	New York	Mets	136,881	8,000,000	58:1
NESN	Boston	Red Sox	81,550	4,000,000	49:1
YES	New York	Yankees	203,989	9,000,000	44:1
Bally Southeast	Atlanta	Braves	73,628	3,000,000	41:1
Marquee Sports	Chicago	Cubs	97,919	3,600,000	37:1
SportsNet LA	Los Angeles	Dodgers	134,563	5,000,000	37:1
AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Pirates	36,916	1,100,000	30:1
NBC Sports Philadelphia	Philadelphia	Phillies	116,395	3,000,000	26:1
AT&T SportsNet Houston	Houston	Astros	103,318	2,500,000	24:1
Bally Ohio	Cincinnati	Reds	37,468	850,000	23:1
Bally Wisconsin	Milwaukee	Brewers	43,274	900,000	21:1
Bally Detroit	Detroit	Tigers	52,111	1,100,000	21:1
Bally San Diego	San Diego	Padres	51,530	1,000,000	19:1
Bally Great Lakes	Cleveland	Guardians	79,868	1,500,000	19:1
Bally Midwest	St. Louis	Cardinals	72,884	1,200,000	16:1

† The MASN subscriber estimate here could be less accurate than the others listed; I was able to source either total subscriber numbers or ratings numbers for the other teams (which can be used to extrapolate the subscriber count closely enough for this analysis), but I did not find reliable looking recent figures for MASN. I did find an article discussing where they stood in 2018, so I guessed based on the industry trends and then I cut the 6 million-ish homes in half for the two clubs. Take all that with a healthy dose of salt.
Remember; the way these RSNs make almost all their money is from the Total Subscribers column and not from the Average Viewers column. The ratings really don't matter for revenue! This is where the big market advantage is particularly potent. Think of it this way; YES gets paid for Yankees games as if there are 9,000,000 people watching despite them "only" having an MLB-leading 200,000+ viewers any given evening.
The reason this matters is if we assume the RSN+cable revenue model is going to ultimately die off and give way to a DTC streaming future, the ratios above can help us gauge how likely it is that any team, even the "big market" clubs, will be able to sustain their revenue dominance if they try to go it alone streaming only to their former cable regions. Can the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs or Dodgers attract about a million subscribers for a local streaming product at $20/month in-season? Seems plausible, if a bit optimistic. Then again, MSG recently launched a $30/month DTC streaming service, but they have also been bleeding cash and are believed to be at risk of bankruptcy themselves next year. To paraphrase the song, if they can't make make it there, they can't make it anywhere.
The outlook is more dire for the smaller market clubs. Could the Pirates, Reds, or Diamondbacks lure half a million local fans to pay $20/month for their games? Probably not, methinks. The bottom ⅔ of MLB's food chain will need to stick together to survive. If they can't aggregate the revenue from cable subscribers, they'll have to find a way to aggregate the revenue of streaming subscribers.
Manfred has stated repeatedly his goal is a single MLB.tv with no blackouts. To get there, it will require all 30 clubs to claw back their local streaming rights, but they would also have to agree on how to divy up the proceeds. Today, each club gets the same 3.33% cut of the MLB.tv revenue because it is considered national for revenue sharing purposes just like the TV rights money they get from the likes of ESPN, Fox, TBS, Peacock, and Apple. There is also the next CBA expiration looming after 2026. The $1.5B/year worth of national broadcast deals with ESPN, Fox, & TBS all expire after the 2028 season. By the end of this decade, the business of baseball will have been altered more than it has been since the last time the A's won a World Series.