Hello (now) from Wisconsin!

[JoePCool14]

Happy new year! Oh wait, it's already almost halfway through March... agh, anyway...

Given it's been a few months and I've moved residences, I thought now would be a good time to reintroduce myself. Actually, I'm formally introducing myself for the first time, as I never made one of these threads in the past.

My name is Joe. I'm currently 25 years old. I grew up in Illinois but moved to Wisconsin within the past year for hopefully greener pastures. I've been on this forum for well over a decade at this point, initially using this as a place to look at and share images of BGS as well as other interesting signs out on the roads. Before that, as a child, I spent loads of time making mockup cities in my family's basement, drawing road layouts on notebook paper, and making signs in Microsoft Excel. More recently, I've leaned more into the discussion of actual road topics like the economics, politics and design of roads, studies, and construction.

I went to school and completed my bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 2022. I now have over three years of work experience in transportation engineering, and I plan to take the PE exam in the near future. My job has given me a whole new perspective on things and makes a lot of my older posts seem quite ridiculous. I'm also realizing how much time and care that go into decisions, big and small, especially those concerning the safety of the public.

I have some other interests outside of this. I still enjoy Minecraft. I've logged hundreds of hours on Cities: Skylines (almost all of that on the first game, not 2). I like tracking my travels on TravelMapping and Mob Rule, although I'm quite out of date on both of those. I enjoy making music on the piano and saxophone. More recently, I've gotten into digital art and embraced my enjoyment of that one show from 2010 about tiny colorful equines.

Great to see this place still kicking, and I'm looking forward to getting back into things again. If anyone has questions, ask away. Cheers!

[freebrickproductions]

Welcome (back)! Nice to see someone else in the MLP fandom on here, were you at PVCF last fall by any chance?

[JoePCool14]

Welcome (back)! Nice to see someone else in the MLP fandom on here, were you at PVCF last fall by any chance?

Yes, I was there! You actually made a cameo in my vlog.

[freebrickproductions]

Welcome (back)! Nice to see someone else in the MLP fandom on here, were you at PVCF last fall by any chance?

Yes, I was there! You actually made a cameo in my vlog.

Ah nice! Do you have a link to it, by any chance?

[kphoger]

Do you have a link to it, by any chance?

I'm assuming it's this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVrhAA3qTOw

[JoePCool14]

Do you have a link to it, by any chance?

I'm assuming it's this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVrhAA3qTOw

Nice sleuthing. Yes, it's that one.

[kphoger]

Nice sleuthing.

[freebrickproductions]

Do you have a link to it, by any chance?

I'm assuming it's this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVrhAA3qTOw

Nice sleuthing. Yes, it's that one.

Ah! That's who you are, cool!

[The_Ginger]

Welcome back! I recall reading that you used to make BGSes back a few years ago, and when I can, I do the same. I use the WVDOT Design Guide for Signing's drawings at the bottom of the page.

Happy new year!

You aren't the last person to tell me that, actually. When I was at the 2025-2026 West Virginia Middle School All-State Band a few weeks ago, our guest director, William Owens, told the crowd that he would probably be the "last person to tell you Happy New Year!"

I like tracking my travels on TravelMapping and Mob Rule, although I'm quite out of date on both of those.

You should get back into that if you can. Personally, I need to get a Mob Rule account, but my Travel Mapping is pretty accurate.

I enjoy making music on the piano and saxophone.

Awesome! I'm a trombonist myself.

[kphoger]

I enjoy making music on the piano and saxophone.

Probably not at the same time, though.

[Rothman]

He learned to work the saxophone.  Plays just what he feels.

[ModernDayWarrior]

He learned to work the saxophone.  Plays just what he feels.

Just don't drink scotch whiskey all night long. Then you'll die behind the wheel.

[JoePCool14]

Welcome back! I recall reading that you used to make BGSes back a few years ago, and when I can, I do the same. I use the WVDOT Design Guide for Signing's drawings at the bottom of the page.

Happy new year!

You aren't the last person to tell me that, actually. When I was at the 2025-2026 West Virginia Middle School All-State Band a few weeks ago, our guest director, William Owens, told the crowd that he would probably be the "last person to tell you Happy New Year!"

I like tracking my travels on TravelMapping and Mob Rule, although I'm quite out of date on both of those.

You should get back into that if you can. Personally, I need to get a Mob Rule account, but my Travel Mapping is pretty accurate.

I enjoy making music on the piano and saxophone.

Awesome! I'm a trombonist myself.

Yeah, I used to make BGS all the time here. Now I do it for fun here and there using SignCAD on my work computer. I'll try to post what I made when I'm back at work. Pretty cool to finally have access to professional software like that. I would've loved that when I was 13.

Just updated my Mob Rule to add a few counties. Still have to go through Travel Mapping though.