Yeah, I’m being totally unfair here. There’s actually a lot more to Rochester than this spiteful strip suggests. My favorite things about the place include the Bug Jar (an awesome club that serves as a catch-all for local and touring freak bands, myself included on multiple occasions, and has a full living room, kitchen, and bathroom hanging upside-down from the ceiling of the performance area,) WBER 90.5 FM (a local surprisingly-popular indie station billed modestly as “The Only Station That Matters,) Geva theater, the Museum of Play, Comics Etc., the City newspaper, the Lilac festival, a few cool record stores, a couple of great coffee houses, a plethora of awesome restaurants, readily-available Chicken French, and – my favorite thing about the area in recent years – gorgeous and well-maintained bike trails that run alongside the Erie Canal and the Genesee River and through the woods on abandoned railroad routes. I began biking to work sporadically last summer, and this year, having upgraded to a better bike, I’ve been trying to do it 2-3 days a week.
The map in this piece actually reminded me of one of the maps along the Canalway trail, which in turn reminded me that it’s friggin’ September, and that my biking days for 2011 will soon be at an end. This thought depressed me enough to take this potshot at my current hometown. I wrote this one mostly to amuse my wife (who has similar feelings about the coming cold) but have been encouraged by my secondary quality control division (consisting of my friends Luke Ski and Tom “Devo Spice” Rockwell) to post it, so here you go.
MRS. SHOEBOX’S ASSESSMENT OF TODAY’S STRIP: *raucous and moderately-malicious laughter* I really like this one!
-=ShoEboX=-
Bug Jar is AWESOME! i am sooo happy to finally be in driving range. there’s also the strong museum of toys- many interactive exhibits, plus traditional behind-the-glass exhibits. great for kids!
that aside, your comic is really funny!
Okay, stupid question but one I don’t want to google for fear of what will come up….
What is a garbage plate?
Isn’t there like a rule against using the same piece of clipart twice? This one was done before in the march 21st, 2004 strip.
Not trying to be mean or rude or anything, I really do love this webcomic, but it was surprising to see the same clip art.
A garbage plate is Rochester’s dish. It consists of: two hamburger or hotdog patties sitting on a bed of homefries and macsalad and smothered with something they call hot sauce which is actually a meaty chunky grease-like gravy. It comes with a side of what most people call ‘prison bread’ which is a large and dry piece of white bread. I think they add this to soak up some of the grease so you don’t instantly have a heart attack. Most people then either dress it like a hamburger, putting mayo/mustard/onions/etc. on it, close the box and shake it, then open and eat. As you can imagine, it looks like garbage which is where their name comes from.
This dish is very popular with drunk people and Nick Tahou’s (the home of the garbage plate) is a popular destination at 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. I think it’s also popular with this crowd because it looks pretty much the same going in as it does coming out, but that’s just a guess.
pienapp1e – Thanks for the reminder, added that to my list.
Sadinar – That is indeed a rule, but it’s one that I’ve broken by accident 4-5 times now. I always do a search before I use a piece of art, but it didn’t occur to me to look up “City Sign,” which is what Rob titled the strip to which you are referring. So consider it an Elseworlds story.
Wife – Thanks for the explanation.
-=’Box=-
I spent the first 36 years of my life in Rochester, and miss the Canal and of course the snow. Winter is no reason to stop biking, though – mountain bikes have built-in snow tires and you can even get bike tires with ice studs nowadays. Snowmobile trails are perfect for snow biking, too. The major caveat for winter biking is “carry your water bottle inside your jacket so it doesn’t freeze.”
Don’t forget the Rochester Zoo – it’s not a bad place to while away a few hours if you have small children.
@Mrs. Shoebox: The Goddess has spoken. Blessed be this day that has revealed her voice unto us.
Man, am I the only one that can ONLY ride a bike in winter? The sheer amount of waste heat from rapid leg movement like that requires a temperature of 45 or below
So what I’m hearing is that I’m a wuss.
Strangely, up ’til recently, I had that whole hearty northern cold-tolerance thing going on. But I lost a cubic buttload of weight last year (biking being a large part of that,) and the elimination of this extra padding has been a rude awakening in the cold department.
Still, I’ll have to give it a try this winter.
-=’Box=-
I was really surprised at seeing the temperature being 45f at 7:30 this morning. I think we hit 80 last week in the afternoon, so this is quite a drop. I hope this means lots of snow — we had a very wimpy snow fall last winter and the fire danger over the summer was pretty brutal.
From 9000′ up in the Sacramento Mountains.
shoebox, don’t read this comment. Move along . . . .
Mrs. Shoebox, get that boy some really good atheletic long underwear for Christmas. Get adivce from somebody smarter than me. Tell them he’s going to bike in it. Be prepared to pay a lot but it will be worth it.
No one has mentioned Wegmans (especially the Pittsford one)?? Whenever my big city friends ask me where I take tourists I tell them Wegmans, and everyone scoffs. But everytime I take someone there they leave a slack-jawed convert. Was just home last week for the first time in awhile with my girlfriend and we had a blast at the museum of play/butterfly garden (and it was great). Also the Jazz festival is pretty solid and the RPO is pretty respectable. Also Soccertown USA and Abbey Wambach. I miss the leaves changing color, the apple cider, and the snow!
The only thing I don’t miss is the constantly overcast skies, with fewer “Sun Days” than Seattle it can be pretty tough for someone with SAD
You could move to Houston where we have summer just about year round, no troublesome state income taxes, and a booming economy. Where else can you wear shorts for Christmas?
I know Wegmans! I have friends in Syracuse who took me there when I visited. I agree, pretty awesome store.
…hotdog PATTIES?
This sounds like something that was on thisiswhyyourefat.tumblr.com