Sigh.....

First, 400,000 people is a lot of people! In any case, USAToday puts us at #66 on the list of most populated U.S. cities. That puts us ahead of a LOT of other places (year unknown, but if the list is more than a year or 2 old, I'd say we're closer to the top based on recent population boom).

Second, the number if people doesn't really matter as much as the number of vehicles per mile of road. In other words, vehicle density. Compare road capacity to number of vehicles actually ON the road to get an idea of what the traffic is really like. Given that we have an incredible lack of roads up here (relative to the land mass) and that everyone in my neighborhood seems to have at least 3 cars sitting in their driveway, I bet our ranking is higher than not.

Third, even if Anchorage is "under vehicled" relative to much larger cities, that hardly means that "there aren't that many cars around" here. Not by a long shot. Maybe there are less cars, but there are also less places for cars to be! Your argument is simplistic and hardly convincing.

Fourth - there isn't much to driving in bumper to bumper traffic 10 lanes wide. You've got lots of room! Crawling along at 2 mph is hardly challenging relative to driving 65mph+ down an icy, snowy 2-lane road which is full of frost heaves, pot holes and moose - not to mention that it is incredibly poorly maintained - and oh by the way, it's also dark most of the time AND the highway, being the ONLY road into or out of town, is packed full of other vehicles who seem to think getting to work is a sprint race, regardless of weather conditions. FYI - I've driven to work on the Capital Beltway for years and I can tell you that wide traffic lanes running at any speed is much easier to drive in than what we face here in Alaska - by a long shot.

Fifth - as for places to park - if you think downtown Anchorage has anyplace to park, you've got another thing coming. It is WAY over-saturated with vehicles - and unlike someplace like NYC, there are not taxis coming along every 3 seconds, a subway, or decent bus system to pick up the slack. Everyone drives everywhere - esp. when it is cold and snow outside (primarily because the sidewalks are rarely cleared - plus, hey, it's freakin' cold).

Yeah - sure - Alaska has plenty of open space, But you know what? That space is where no one lives! There are no roads or people out there. Why? Because most of the land is owned by the federal government and locked up from development or other useful purposes because the people in the rest of the country think Alaska should be one great big pristine national park - and #### the people who live there - who should be forced to go live like cockroaches in someplace like NYC, LA or Chicago.

The general argument of "Anchorage is much easier to learn to drive in because there are not many cars" is just completely bogus, no matter how you want to slice it.

Even so - the implication that there is any correlation between learning or knowing how to drive and getting a driver's license is ALSO bunk. A short drive around any city in America should be enough to demonstrate to you that one needs no driving skills whatsoever to secure a driver's license. Fact is, a DL is nothing more than an identity card, primarily designed to prevent minors from buying alcohol and to implement a police state. Papers, please?

Cheers!
akdiver

I disagree. 400,000 is small, especially considering the population density. but then when i lived in st. petersburg i felt it was a tiny city too.

there is definitely bumper-to-bumper traffic on highways/turnpikes/bridges with lots of lanes. that is why there are so many lanes in the first place. and when traffic is actually moving, it is moving very fast and people are constantly merging and switching lanes.

Just when I think you belong in the Russia Forum....



Extra points for using the word "bunk" in a sentence.



But it's so pleasantly unintrusive! It's almost like we're not even submitting to it at all... it's like they're doing us a favor. Driving is a privelege, after all!

And down with those dirty terrorists! National Security should come first, no matter what!

I wish we had a national ID card instead of just a state ID. That way the Federal govt. could better protect us from terrorism.

(Did you guys see McCain's attempt to label Global Warming as the newest threat to National Security? HA! Colbert was keeping his fingers crossed that maybe we could defeat Global Warming in Iran....)

now how else are you gonna treat her like the princess she is if you don't chauffeur her around?

I called my wife "My Princess" one time. She immediately corrected me, "I am not princess... I am queen!"

wow!

The running joke in our house is "good Russian wife". My wife will do something nice for me and say, "I am good Russian wife" - or I will say, "you are good Russian wife". It's all in complete jest (we are making fun of the good Russian wife stereotype). Last night she did something nice and I said, "you are good Russian wife" and she responded, without missing a beat, "if I am good Russian wife, how come you had to clean the toilet today". Ouch!! (:

see what i mean? now get driving

Better yet... hire a driver.

I'm gonna hire someone to clean my toilet before I hire someone to drive my wife around.

On the driving note..... she passed the written test and has the practical portion, the actual driving part next Friday. Will update then. And she got a job too! We were lounging around on Wednesday and she said, "I go downtown now and find job." Out of the blue. I dropped her off and a few hours later she was waking me up saying something about training tomorrow. She's worked for a couple days, so far so good. I would've posted earlier, but you know how Russians are. They've got that rule about not talking about stuff until after it's over. Kind of like a baseball no-no or the first rule of Fight Club....

From what I gather, it's not that she doesn't understand what she must do or even that she shuns the responsibility. It's that she simply must delay as long as possible to torment me to the maximum degree.

Seems like your patience with driving lessons and answering questions about the rules of the road (" no honey yellow light means go faster") is about to end. Congrats on the working wife, now the painful your money is our money and my money is my money lesson. My wife is retooling in school, and I thought that don't tell anyone our plans was an individual characteristic of my wife, don't know if I am relieved or concerned that it seems to be a national pasttime. Now if I can just her out to shoot that M-16 this weekend and send a photo to her dad who brags about kalishnikov superiority...

unfortunately, that seemed to apply to some german gals i knew. fortunately, my wife does not think like that, i don''t know if that is common in brazil or if it is just her.

I think my patience must persevere because although she'll be driving, that doesn't mean I can relax. My grip is still pretty tight on that "Oh $#!T handle." She's improved by leaps and bounds but I'm relaxed by no means!

The "our money" lesson isn't going to change from this job... she was working before for the last 9 months. She just up and quit her job because, well, it's her money, so what's it matter? I guess since she didn't have any of "her money" left to pay for "her car" and "our money" has been exhausted on the rest of "our bills" she finally figured out the only way to get what she wants (and keep it) she'd have to start working again. But, who knows, maybe "her money" will be "our money" this time.

As far as the Kalashnikov's superiority over the M-16, I think you'll have to get him to shoot it. Sure, the AK has plenty of great quality's, but like they say on the History channel, "This is the rifle you have if you can't afford an M-16."



I hope it's a Brazilian thing because she just started working at a Brazilian restaurant. Maybe she'll come home with that first paycheck and be like, "Honey, here... it's our money."

is it a brazilian barbecue place? that stuff is so good.

Yep. All you can eat steak, chicken, seafood, etc. I think it's like $49.50, but for someone like me, that's a steal. I know I can eat more than $50 worth of steak in one sitting. I've never eaten there, but there's a good chance I'll be eating there soon.

She's not to the point where she can bring me a "lunch" home every night, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

We bought a set of bunk beds at a garage sale but they turned out to be stolen so a man from the bunk-o squad came a took them away.

Thats two pts right

Stolen bunkbeds? Heh. How did they end up tracking you down?

That is two points! (But for future reference, bunk is going to have to be used as a descriptive word as in AK's last usage of something "being bunk" or else we could all get points for using "bunk beds", "up at the bunk house", "the bunk-o squad" etc. To truly earn points for using words like bunk, they've gotta be in the most bunk usage.)



Same way INTERPOL tracked down that woman that was a bunk robber over in Russia then went to Alaska and started working at the bunk with plans on doing an inside robbery. We later found out it was debunkified, as I'm sure we'll hear the same about Thomas' bunk-o squad story with the stolen bunk beds.

0 points because that was a bunk post.

OK, well, one point now. Get it?

Just an update on the driving and license acquisition process......

She had her practical driving exam on Friday. I watched as they walked out to the car, flashed the lights, beeped the horn, etc., then took off. She pulled up to the cones (after doing her best Austin Powers impersonation to straighten the car - they did have the cones set up at an odd angle though, kind of a weird place to do a manueverability test...) and she started to pull through and then reverse back. After stopping to start over, she made it through just fine.

Then, they took off (out of sight) to do the "road" test. I guess she did OK because the black guy administering the test wasn't white when they returned so she must've driven pretty steadily. He revealed however, that she didn't pass because she rolled through the stop signs. She did pass the "cones" portion, but not the "road" driving portion. She drove well, just rolled through the stops (instant failure) so she has to do that part over.

So, now we had to reschedule the test (another two weeks) and hopefully when she passes that one, she'll be done. All told, we've been in the process of getting her license for over three months. Most of that time was driving practice but once we went to the license place, there was a written test, several days to do a re-test, two weeks before a driving test was available, two weeks to get a re-test scheduled and then hopefully we'll be done. Until then, I'm still driving her to/from her 4-5 hour part-time job.

Hopefully all of this will be behind us next month. June should be good. Got a new license, got a new job.....

OMG Slim!

June sounds like it will be a great month for y'all.

Well the bottom bunk had lo-jack (sorry I couldnt resist)

what the.... oh... LOW jack.

Budump, chhhh!

It was funnier if you were there.

Update:

Finally got the license yesterday. We were supposed to be there for a 2:30 appointment. We showed up at 2:32 after doing some last minute practicing in the local neighborhood. "Sorry, you're late."

We were only two minutes late but come to find out, we were supposed to be 15 minutes early to register and then start driving right at 2:30. Since I didn't double check the appointment sheet (should've known better, always double check what the wife tells you) and didn't remember from last time because we were so early, they added her to "the list." After almost two hours she went to take her test and the administrator from last time said, "Hey, make sure you stop at all those stop signs." The guy administering the test this time took her around the neighborhood and informed her that if she didn't come to a complete stop the police would give her a "phat ticket."

She came back about 10 minutes later (putting us at over 2 hours in the BMV waiting area) and then we headed next door to wait (another 20+ minutes) on them to process her license.

So, now we're done. With the BMV at least. Now comes the next step. Tire changes, procedures for accidents, police stops, road hazards, bumper-to-bumper traffic and all the other little delights that come with driving in the U.S.A.

We're going to return our practice cones to an abandoned parking lot this weekend. If you guys make it down this way, KazanTiger, you can have them. We're passing the torch. Although, maybe we'll keep them for a high-speed slalom course or a good braking/manuevering obstacle set up. Now we can have some fun!

Congratulations, and welcomce to the thrill a minute club. Now you will hear about covers for the steering wheel instead of the toilet seat, and I predict it won't be long until the call for her own car comes out.

Yea, we are going through the "Her own Car" thing even though she does not have her liscense yet.

Lets see, these are the cars she likes. VW-Beetle, Toyota Yaris, Smart ForTwo and Jaguar. She just went on the Jag kick yesterday.

If she buys something low like the Jag I might strangle her. I am just finishing up selling my Pontiac Solstice which to me was my favorite car I have owned even though I rarely drove it because it "sat too low" about the same hight as you sit in a Jag.

I got myself into some hot water with the wording of my eBay add for the solstice. She never read the ad until the last day it ran. I talked about the equipment the car has and then in the ad I said:

"I got married not long ago and the wife says either the car goes or she goes and I can not find a catagory for her on eBay"

She did not like that wording all that well. One if the guys who messaged me back suggested I see if Craigs list had a catagory for her.

I think craigslist does have such a category. Ebay is really against selling humans and human parts, if you recall the Kidney incident. I think the right spot on craigslist would be in the miscellaneous sub category of personals.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/msr/
Although the immigration officials may not appreciate it:
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/ar...losangeles1.htm

I'm already a step ahead of you guys in the "her own car" department.

We bought her a brand new car about three months ago. She would not drive my Jeep because it was too difficult and she "needed" a small car with an automatic transmission so she could "practice" driving.

I wasn't against it because now she also can "practice" paying monthly bills associated with it. (However it was a joint loan because of her lack of credit. I'm kind of surprised they approved the loan with me on there as well but the old saying holds true for my credit, "bad credit is better than no credit at all.") Plus, it's nice to have two vehicles and a small car is a lot better on gas for running errands and for "practicing" driving. So, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I have encouraged her to pay for 100% of it. Well, at least relate how much I'm spending on it to how much she makes every month. (We recently had the "doing it all on your own" talk after some heated arguments and when I factored in all the monthly payments necessary to sustain a single-income household, she magically didn't want her own place anymore. But, that's a completely separate issue...)

Anyway, once again, Satellite is right, there is a place on Craigslist to sell the wife or the car. Craigslist and E-Bay are both funny to me in that it's perfectly acceptable to find a NSA same-sex partner for some "weekend fun" or to sell a french fry that looks like Abe Lincoln, but you can't list a rifle or shotgun because it's bad for society.

Either way, I would suggest getting the wife a "car of her own" so at the very minimum she starts taking some responsibility if she hasn't already. Also, that way she doesn't wreck your car (or truck!) into someone's front porch.

I highly encourage that if she wants her own car, she should pay for her own car.

Yeah, I bought two PT cruisers at once and she didn't have her license yet, but she likes the stick, and the car was an incentive to her to get her DL, which she did first shot! My wife is a very careful driver, sometimes to the point that it drives me nuts. Shedrives everywhere we go locally (my cars are too dirty) and I drive on long trips. Wouldn't add to your misery by advertising on Craig's list. I have noticed that what we use as a sense of humor doesn't go over to well with the Russian ladies. Well, maybe over the course of time they will get acclimated to our peculiar brand of humor.

Slim:

I'm just so blown away at these issues you're having with your wife. I dunno what I would do if my wife had a similar attitude. Ugh. But FWIW, she got the loan for her car in her own name - but we don't really have his & her money - I make sure all the bills get paid, one way or another.

In other news - I didn't know you were also a Jeep owner. You're even wiser than I thought you were. A picture of my Jeep is attached. If you look closely, you can see my wife too (:

Cheers!
AKDiver

I think the smartest thing I can do is avoid the "brand new car" for a while. The idea of her driving on her own still scares me to death. I think it is going to take a wreck or two as part of her learning experience. She does good about 95% of the time but still has problems with things like 3 way stops and not seeing a stop sign every once in a while. She still hugs the right too much too. Zipping along with poles and cars passing a few inches to your right has turned me into a seat belt believer.

Right after the guy came to check out my Solstice he bought on eBay she wanted to take a last drive in it with the top down. I said I didn't think it was a good idea but relented. I was really glad when that ride was over and happy it turned into a short ride.

Is it just my wife or do other wives seem to have a lot of difficulty figuring out where there are and where the way to go. Like going to English classes (she drives there) I have to tell her most every turn even though we have gone that way a million times. She is going to be helpless without either me or GPS.

It must be a Russian thing. My wife can't find her well you know what behind the wheel. interestingly, she won't drive to church by herself, but will drive to the mall alone. Some correlation here? I think the reason she takes me is for navigational purposes and to not get hit on which bothers the he!! out of her. I try to tell her to take it as a compliment and she responds with a dirty look. Oh well. The idea of a used car is a good idea, and even though the insurance rates are higher I would get the lowest deductible possible as this may be either a blessing in disguise or preventive medicine. My wife has only been involved in one accident where she was rear-ended and she called the kid that did it a bunch of interesting names. She loves her car, and the cracks he put in the paint of her plastic rear bumper were inexcusable. But when his insurance paid off the claim she pocketed the money and decided she could "live" with the cracks. She did hit some curb protectors frequently causing some 1,800 damage ($1,000 deductible so you know who coughed up the moola for that!) Now she wants a bigger SUV type car, and is hinting around for a Rav 4. I told her we were not going to get rid of the PT becasue I could drive it back and forth to work a heck of a lot cheaper than my pickup.

that was talked over here and agreed to. nessa also pays for the insurance and gas.

Yes, driving is still rather scary and most of the time, even though she knows where we're going, she still asks which lane she should be in and if she's going the right way. I think she'll do just fine on her own as she has a pretty good sense of direction. I'm worried about dents and dings in parking lots because we always end up crooked in the spot. She's made significant improvement and it looks like with some practice she'll do just fine. The only thing is, "I will be do my way how I want" doesn't work out there on the road and it darn sure doesn't work in the downtown neighborhoods that she'll be driving through daily. As long as she can follow the rules and be a (ha!) courteous driver, she should do just fine.

Time will tell. I'm actually quite encouraged by what I've seen so far. She's made a lot of progress since first starting to drive. And now that I'm not required to be in the car anymore, we'll see what happens.....


The first time my wife tried to move my Jeep, this is what happened.... maybe that's why she wanted a car instead. The next pic is from a happier time. Excellent pic above, AKDiver. The scenery from Cincinnati isn't quite so awe-inspiring, but this is what we've got, high atop the hill overlooking the urban jungle. Probably not going to make it into the Jeep magazine, but still one of my better "me & my Jeep" photos.

Awww, come on Slim! I postively love the Cinci skyline coming north through the "cut in the hill" in Covington at night.

I have to agree with Kazan. When my wife and I have cruised down the interstate she always comments about how beautiful the skyline of Cincinatti is. She does not say a word when we cruise past Columbus or Louisville.

The problem with Columbus and Louisville is lack of vantage point for a nice view. Cinci has a great one! There is a reason Cinci has the Skyline Chili restaurants.

Skyline Chili absolutely rocks! There's nothing else like it (except all the other chili places in Cincinnati) and it gives a whole new meaning to the term "3-way." If you're not from around here it takes some getting used to and it's not the chili you want to be eating out on the trail (has kind of a White Castle after-effect) but it sure is good for chili-cheese-coneys (hot dogs with chili and cheese) during the game.

Cincinnati's skyline is quite beautiful, especially when rounding that bend on I-75, but that's about it. That's the "money shot" for the city. We have a large number of nice parks in the city/county but after that, pickins are kind of slim for such a large city. Plus, I think that skyline shot kind of misrepresents the city. It makes it look like a big, bustling city when in reality this place is "big village" for those who've lived elsewhere. Anyway, it is nice to drive through, provided you stay on the highway and don't exit anywhere within city limits. And since so many of you pass through here.... PM me next time and I'll give you a guided tour of "the hood." I live only about five minutes past that view and about two minutes after passing the bridge. Stop by, we'll get a couple of 3-ways and coneys, watch the Reds lose, and then leave the city before the "fireworks" start.



The second picture is what I woke up to. The Jeep was parked against the house. She got in to move it and it rolled back into the house. House was fine. Jeep, not so much. Not too bad though, just a small dent in the tailgate but it still operates just fine. I think I'd had it all of three weeks at the time. Wow! What a nice used Jeep.

Actually, it wasn't such a big deal. I look at Jeeps the same way I look at my pickup trucks. They're a utility vehicle and not to be all sparkly and nice. Dents, dings, scratches, etc. don't diminish the overall look. It's supposed to have those things on it. If you have a SUV or a truck and it's in immaculate condition then you need to trade it in for a car, Nancy. (Exception: If you're one of those truck guys that keeps your truck super clean, I get it. But, there better be at least one scratch in the bed!)

Oh man how I miss Skyline chili 3-ways! I miss Bogart's too...

Slim, your jeep pictures scared me a lot! Could have been much worse though!

I lived on West 6th street in Covington for a year back in the early 1990s and used to sometimes take a stroll over to Newport. Now that tended to me a bit scary and hoodlike! What I really miss is a LaRosa's pizza.

A few weeks ago, on our way back from a birthday party for some of our Russian friends, we were driving past a White Castle and I felt that irresistable pull.

The b-day party was great but the food wasn't to my taste - too much smoked fish, caviar, and holadyets, so I was hungry.

Anyway, my wife was silent while we went through the drive-through and I ordered a sack. But as we were pulling out of the drive-through, she couldn't hold back any longer: "why did you order TEN gamburgers????"

I laughed the rest of the ride home and showed her how small the burgers are. And yes, I paid for it the next day, but it was worth it.

I could live without White Castle and probably do without the Chili but I have to agree with Kazan that I would love it if we had LaRosa Pizza here. The other pizza down that way I used to really like is Pizza Tower out by Kings Island. I have not been there for years now but used to stop any time I could.

I think a lot of people have to learn a hard lesson on driving to take it seriously. Hopefully my wife's porch episode and slims jeep thingy cured them.

Off the topic of RW but I will never forget a young gal who lived with me for 3 + years driving my new Camero Z-28 to the laundramat very late one night by herself, making a right turn through an underpass and not allowing enough room, coming back at 4 am and telling me as she made the turn the wall came out and hit her.

rhinoliner

I'm really surprised so many of you have "done time" in the Queen City. I live right by Bogarts but never go, short Vine isn't what it used to be. Well, on second thought, maybe it's exactly what it used to be. Very interesting, to say the least. Bogarts is still the place to go, they're always having big-name acts.

The Jeep wasn't damaged too badly and luckily, neither was the wife! She didn't actually reverse into the house, just rolled back about 10 feet after popping the clutch. Or, disengaging the e-brake, pushing in the clutch, taking it out of gear and then frantically searching for the brake with her other foot all the while holding in the clutch. Or, releasing it but forgetting that it was in neutral. Or, pushing in the clutch with her right foot and forgetting to engage the brake or..... who knows what actually happened. I was already passed out and she wasn't exactly fit to operate a motor vehicle. One of those nights.



Newport actually invested several million bucks in redoing the riverfront. They have a very nice shopping mall there with a theater and bars, restaurants, etc. and they're taking all Cincinnati's entertainment money away. There are several high-rise condo developments going in now and it's really snazzy in certain parts. Two blocks away though you can still buy heroin and crack from the cast of the Jerry Springer show.



That's the CRAVE!!!

My wife actually enjoys the gamburgers (and chicken sandwiches) but she won't eat them anymore because they "make bomb" inside her stomach.



I believe the Pizza Tower is out of business now, converted into a Mexican restaurant. I'll have to double-check next time I'm out that way. Traffic is horrible over there now. You probably woudn't recognize that area anymore as it's one of the fastest-growing communities in the state and there are shopping centers all around. And no more roads!

For all of you still wanting that taste of Cincinnati, check out http://www.cicnyfavorites.com where you can order LaRosa's pizza, Skyline Chili, and a couple other Cincinnati treats.



As soon as the funds are available, the tub of my Jeep will be rhinolined. Both of my F-150s that I bought new were at the spray-on shop the next day. That stuff is worth it's weight in gold. I wouldn't think of buying a new truck without budgeting for the rhinoliner as well. It's that good!

I got my permit today! Driver exam is scheduled for july, 11th, because driving place is busy. Im really proud of myself!

Slim:

If you got yourself a real bumper on there, it wouldn't be a problem. Some guy backed into me in the parking lot the other day. ###### his bumper all up, not a scratch for me. Similar thing happened with my back bumper - the person who tapped into me in the parking lot had to be towed away - not a scratch on my Jeep. I love my urban armour (:

In related news - my wife has a second interview at a bank tomorrow (position of purchasing manager - establishing a new purchasing department). First interview was with the CFO. Second interview is with the CFO and some other guy. I'm hoping for the best - she gets an offer and it is a suitable offer. We'll see how it goes. If she gets the job, there's a good chance she could be making more than me (:

Cheers!
AKDiver

Does anyone know where to go, and what is required, in Russia to get an international driver's license....?
Thanks

Back when I was a member of the AAA (American Automobile Association) I purchased an international driver's licence from them back in the 1990's that was valid for Russia (and several other countries). You have to carry it along with your local state driver's license. Back in the 1990's in Belarus and Russia it was easier to hire a driver and car than to rent a car, so I never used it. If I remember correctly, the license expired after 1 year.

Check with the Russian consulate here in the USA for more current info. They should be able to tell you what you need to know. Or call AAA in your city or state.

As far as I remember, Russian citizens when they apply for their driver's licenses are asked whether they want a regular Russian driver's license or an International one. Difference being cost of course. In Russia the place is abbreviated and well known to everyone as ГАИ (ГИБДД).
As for Americans seeking International Driver's Licenses, just about any website you google will ask for a copy of your state's license and a fee and will issue it with no problems.

I wouldn't recommend driving in Russia, personally. Just to give you an idea, half of the drivers in St. Petersburg surveyed admitted to bribing a traffic cop. If you really need to take a car somewhere, it's much better to just stop a car and pay the driver. We usually pay about 20r a kilometer, but I doubt that American men can get away with it.