KirstenL4W

This past weekend Mister and I went to the San Francisco Bay area.  He grew up there, and we’ve been a few times before, but this time he brought me to a new place: his parent’s house.  We were scheduled to have a luncheon in the garden with his parents and a few friends who live in the area.  On the way up there Friday afternoon, and well into the evening (it’s a long drive from Vegas), we took a slightly more scenic route so we could take a quick tour of the town he spent many summers at.  The tiny farming community hadn’t changed much, except for the truck stops, but it was cool to see.  Mister was so animated as he was going through pointing out what used to be where, and showed me the family farm (it’s still in the family).  It was pretty cool, even though it was dark out.  We want to go back during the day so we can visit the tiny museum and actually see the place in the light.

We got to the bay area rather late.  Checking into our hotel, we had to sign a no-party disclaimer.  Kinda strange, especially considering that it’s not situated that closely to any sort of establishment that would attract a partying crowd.  After not sleeping very well due to the world’s softest bed, (this was not some fleabag motel, either - we stay at Marriots) we checked out and went on a tour of Mister’s hometown.  He showed me his schools, his first apartment, some properties his parents own, and a few other places related to the History of Mister.  His town is such a charming little place - the kind of place you see in the movies, with lovely houses and sidewalks that people actually walk on and all sorts of stuff like that.  But then we drove down to San Jose to visit the family business.  San Jose is a grittier, rougher place, but fitting for a trucking company.  Mister showed me some of the stuff he worked on and I got to meet Hilda the watchdog.

After the tour, it was time to head back to Utopiaville for the luncheon.  My in-laws have a home with character that doesn’t look like all the other homes on the block, like here in Vegas.  They have trees and a lawn and plants that need water, and you can find the front door.  I got the tour of the house, saw Mister’s old boy-cave and my MIL’s artwork.  She does such awesome watercolors.  Mister was trying to go shopping to accessorize our house, but his mother would have none of that.  In the backyard, with its water feature and real goldfish, we set up the table on the covered patio for our luncheon, then we picked lemons from the lemon tree and made lemonade.  I’m totally serious!  My MIL has a lemon tree with the biggest freaking lemons I’ve ever seen.  We made lemonade with real lemons, not a container full of powder.  It was awesome, as was the luncheon outside on a day that was a tiny bit warm but had a gentle afternoon breeze.  Yes, my husband apparently grew up in a fictional land.

We spent the rest of the afternoon there, then headed to a hotel closer to the city with the intention of meeting up with some more friends, but that hotel was overbooked, so we went 10 miles south (away from SF) to a room paid for by the overbooked hotel.  Score!  It killed our plans on going into San Francisco, since it was so late and we had a long drive ahead of us on Sunday.  But that’s ok.  The sleep was much better.

On Sunday, we wanted to go down to the truck yard to get Mister’s toolbox.  He has 2 toolboxes there, and we were to get the smaller one, which would barely fit in the bed of the pickup.  But, we got a later start than we wanted and there was traffic on the 101 Freeway due to an accident, so we ended up missing my father-in-law.  That’s ok.  We were wondering how the heck we (as in my strong, manly man of a husband and me, a weak girly girl) were going to unload an incredibly heavy toolbox from the truck after driving 10 hours back home.  Another time, then.

My mom sent me the pictures she took at my wedding.  You can see those on my flickr page if you are on my friends list there.  Now I need to send her the good pictures and send my dad and my sister the pictures.  My sister has no idea what her brother in law looks like.  For now, though, it’s back to the grind.

Today, Mister and I got up a bit early (for a Saturday) to head down to Prescott, AZ. He had some work to do there, and today was the best day to get it done so we decided to make a road trip out of it. Things started out as an ordinary trip through the boring desert, though it was nice going over the Hoover Dam before all the tourists got there. We got down to Kingman and saw an electronic message board stating that I-40 east was closed due to a crash. Darn, because we needed to go that way.

We stopped at a truck stop to fill up on junk food and get something to drink, and we asked a bit about what was going on with the crash on the freeway. Another customer said there was a truck on fire and the freeway was in fact closed; he recommended following Historic Route 66 to Seligman and rejoining I-40 there. He said it was 2 lanes but fairly straight with a 60pmh speed limit, and only about 30 miles extra. (Side note: here in the wild west, there are not a lot of options when a main road closes down. We were lucky that there was an option at all.)

Though it was a bit longer, it turns out that Route 66 was a pretty nice drive. And we got a bit of a time traveling feeling: we saw Burma Shave signs along the road! I was definitely wishing we had brought the camera with us, but Mister and I are planning on doing a more leisurely drive on that road at some point. And here’s a side note from the KirstenL4W history files: My Dad’s business, Salem 66 Auto Sales, was named because he started out in a rented Phillips 66 station in Salem, NH. Phillips 66 can no longer be found in the northeast, but Salem 66 lives on, currently in Pelham, NH.

We rejoined I-40, then headed down AZ 89 towards Prescott. I know that northern Arizona is a bit more lush that the Vegas area is, but I was surprised at exactly how lush. Except for the hilly terrain and the mountains in the background, it looked a lot like the midwest. It was refreshing to see something other than rocks and brown scrub brush. Once we got to Prescott, Mister did what he had to do, and we turned around to head back. We stopped to gas up and have lunch at Dairy Queen, which I love, before heading back to Vegas. Another KirstenL4W history sidenote: Ever since I was a little kid, my dad has owned a 1968 Ford Fairlane convertible. There were no cruise nights then, so we only ever took it out on Sunday evenings in the summer down to the Dairy Queen. Dad still owns the “ice cream car” today.

On the way back, Mister and I were treated so something we don’t see very often here in the desert: rain. Lovely, cool, beautiful rain. I had to be careful driving on the freeway because of so much water, but other than that it was nice to actually get some use out of my windshield wipers. Usually I just replace the dried-out, never used wiper blades every year. Mister stated that because of the rain, he was more relaxed than he had been in a long time, and then took a nap. All in all, it was a very, very nice drive.

On Monday, Boyfriend and I headed to LA to have lunch.  I know what you’re saying - there are plenty of really decent places here in Vegas to eat, but there was more.  Boyfriend wanted to meet some Silly Little Game friends.  Since LA is a 4-5 hour drive from Vegas (depending on traffic and where in LA you are going), it is on the lower end of reasonable for a day trip.  Heck, I go to LA just to shop at IKEA since they still won’t believe that Vegas is a viable market.  But I digress.  The topic here is lunch with friends.

The friends chose the Monte Carlo Deli in Burbank as the place to meet.  Just hearing that it was an Italian deli had me excited.  I’m from the east coast, and while the deli as a popular lunch spot is more of a New York thing, I just wanted a little individuality, which Vegas is sorely lacking.  There were some tough choices to be made, but I ended up with a bit of a lighter dish - the tuna salad with sides of green salad and pasta salad.  I just didn’t want anything heavy since we were spending a lot of time in the car.

We met the SLG friends outside and all went in together.  One of them is from MA, so we had fun whipping out our Boston accents, much to the amusement of Boyfriend.  I just don’t understand what it is about the Boston accent that turns ordinary speech into a circus act.  But hey, it keeps Boyfriend laughing, and his happiness is important to me, so I just roll with it.  Anyway, we all ate lunch, chatted, chatted some more, had some gelato, and chatted some more before the time dictated that Boyfriend and I get back on the road.  There’s a store in Fullerton that we wanted to get to before they closed, and then get home so that I could get at least a few hours sleep before work in the morning.

I was noticing a few things on the way home.  Barstow is about halfway between Vegas and LA, and provides a really good area to stop in - there are truck stops, outlet stores, and even some people that live there.  On the way back to Vegas I noticed a sign that said “California Welcome Center Next Stop.”  What I didn’t really understand is that Barstow is really the last real town before you hit Vegas, so why oh why would there be a Welcome Center for a state that most people, when passing that sign, are on their way out of the state?  Californians are weird.

There is a town rest stop about halfway between Barstow and Vegas called Baker.  Baker has a few tiny motels, convenience stores, and fast food places.   Baker is the home of the world’s tallest thermometer, which is a pretty neat feature - you can see exactly how hot it is in the Mojave desert when you’re on your way to Vegas or Death Valley.  My mom, when I told her about this, just had to ask, “Is it a rectal thermometer?”  Silly Mommy.  But we did stop in Baker for a reason, and that was Greek food.  Boyfriend is of Greek ancestry, and has gotten me to like a bit of it.  So The Mad Greek was the last destination of our trip.  We both got gyros with yummy rice pilaf and some baklava to go, all of which was yummy.

We rolled back into town around midnight, so I had to get to bed right away.  It was a great day - we got to get out of town, meet some friends, and eat excellent food.  Can’t get much better than that.

Boyfriend and I left the house as soon as I got home from work Friday. We had already packed, and since we are getting really good at this last minute road trip stuff, we didn’t have any running around to do (well, except for food - Boyfriend didn’t really eat lunch). By the time we make it out of Las Vegas Friday afternoon rush hour traffic, it’s a bit after 5pm. Not bad at all.

We started heading up US-95 towards Reno. Now, once you get past the turnoff for Pahrump, it’s a 2-lane highway all the way to Reno. All 300 or so miles. And there’s little else. A few towns here and there, not exactly large towns either. Since I started driving, and I hate driving that kind of road in the dark, Boyfriend and I switched seats at Goldfield. But before we did that, we managed to get a great view of the road at sunset:

Last time we drove US 95, it was on the way back from San Francisco, taking the scenic route through the Sierras and Reno. It was a dark night with no moon, and the narrow, unlit, 2-lane highway was scary, for me at least. The big black void was too much for me, since I couldn’t see a damn thing beyond my headlights. And beautiful Walker Lake? At least on this most recent trip we had a nearly full moon, and I could see the water just fine.

The Reno area was a lot colder than the weather we left in Las Vegas. It was in the 30s and threatening to snow. So much so that Boyfriend was worried about our trip over the Sierras the next day. I-80 in California has this silly little thing that if there’s snow on the ground, regardless of road conditions, all vehicles must chain up. Lucky for us, the snow moved out and it all disappeared, so no chains required.

In Reno, Boyfriend made reservations at the Peppermill Reno. I don’t know what, if any, preconceived notions any of you might have about Vegas, at least those who haven’t been here. The Peppermill is Tacky Vegas personified. Mirrored ceilings in the casino, colorful neon everywhere, and a tackfully decorated room with not one but two rows of strip lights circling the room. The wallpaper was something out of a vintage 70s floral collection, and the wall behind the bed was encased in a mirror with a smoky tint to it:

Saturday saw us out on the road a bit early to drive 1 hour back towards Vegas to Fallon, so Boyfriend could do a work thingy, then back to Reno for another work thingy. The Reno one pissed him off because the person was late and kept giving Boyfriend the run around. But work stuff got done, then we were on our way to San Francisco. We stayed in the same hotel as last time, due to its proximity to both the city and the ease at which we could get out of the city. But I can’t leave the Peppermill without telling you all about one more super tacky thing we saw - a car at the valet. A Porsche at the valet. A Smurf-blue Porsche at the valet. Not really the right color for a car of that caliber. But it seemed to fit in there just fine.

We went to meet some of Boyfriend’s Silly Little Game friends for dinner. I’d met one of them before, so it was a comfortable evening - none of that awkward “OMG what if his friends don’t like me” stuff. Been there, done that. Instead, it was some awkward “what if I don’t like it” out to eat stuff. We went to the famed Benihana restaurant. We’ve all seen it in the movies - it’s the place where you sit at a table with a bunch of people you don’t know and the chef shows off while cooking your food right there at the table.

Now, those who know me know that I am one of the pickiest people alive when it comes to what I’ll eat. In foreign cuisines, I’ll usually pick out one or maybe two things that I can tolerate and stick with those. I don’t do fungus, and I most definitely don’t do cold fish, especially if it’s raw. So no sushi. Just - no. Gross. I can’t even stomach the thought of uncooked seafood passing my lips. Just not gonna happen. So, I know Boyfriend, who thinks I need to open my mind when it come to cuisine, really wants me to try sushi. Too bad everyone else scarfed it down before I had a chance to muster up the courage. Ha ha you! The rest of the meal, on the other hand, was excellent. The chef was supposed to put on a fancy show out of cooking our food, but with our reservations being at 9pm, he was all out of personality by then, so we got excellent food with a lackluster show. There is so much food! Japanese onion soup, which was yummy (I waded my way around the mushrooms in it), fried rice, shrimp appetizers which were excellent even though I rarely like shrimp, then the meal. I got the Filet Mignon and lobster. OMG. Just OMG. It was that good. Top it all off with some Japanese style grilled onions and zucchini, and wow. And zucchini is another one of those things that I rarely like.

Sunday we wanted to be out at a reasonable hour, since we planned on driving down the coast before heading back. California Highway 1 has got to be one of the most scenic roads I have ever been on. A bit harrowing to drive in sections, but if you can have someone else drive while you look, it’s awesome. Thanks to my wonderful, awesome, most wicked bestest Boyfriend in all the land, I got my fill of Pacific coast scenery. We passed over the famous Bixby Bridge, took some photos, and started to head home after we got down past San Simeon somewhere. This is where the adventure truly began. But first, some scenery:

That’s the Bixby Creek Bridge taken from afar. The best pics are taken from out on the water, but we couldn’t drive there, obviously. Anyway, the adventure part. After we got out of the winding road area in Big Sur, I drove for awhile. Not very long though. Our GPS unit was going to help us get home on the quickest route possible. It routed me through a town, I missed a stop sign but didn’t get caught, and started following the directions. Until I saw a sign indicating that the next services were 84 miles away and I had a quarter tank of gas left. I didn’t recall seeing gas stations in the tiny town we just passed, so Boyfriend asked GPS where the nearest one was. That thing is pretty nifty. Except when it gets you lost. That thing led us down California Highway 229.

Now, let me tell you a few things about CA 229. It is not a highway. It is not a way at all, really. It is a one lane - ONE! - road that twists and turns its way past some ranches, until it finally opens up into a two lane road and brings you to another rural road somewhere. California wanted it to feel special so it gave the road some state money and a special number. Back where I come from these are called back roads, and they know to stay the fuck off of your road map. They know better. California highways, on the other hand, are all self-important, trying to bolster up the little guy and give it way more self-esteem than it should have. And they end up getting you lost.

The GPS had us turn off CA 229, onto some other road, then had us make a left onto some dirt road, where there was supposed to be a Texaco station on the corner. Maybe 75 years ago, but not today. Boyfriend laughed, but I was close to tears. It was so funny in a way that’s really not. Luckily, once we tore the GPS a new anoos and asked for a different gas station, it got us out of the middle of nowhere and to a gas station. Once we fueled up, the rest of the trip was long, dark, and uneventful. We arrived home at 12:30am, where I proceeded to collapse into bed, only to wake up 4 hours later for work.

Boyfriend and I went to San Francisco this past weekend. I’d been there before, but it was over 10 years ago and I had a really bad cold, which I got the day after I got there. This time was a much shorter trip, but I wasn’t dead tired from being sick. We met up with some of Boyfriend’s friends (he grew up there, and knows people) so it was nice to be social too.

Highlights:

Driving through San Mateo county and seeing the redwoods, ocean, and this place (I had some sort of weird fascination with getting my picture taken next to a sign)

Lunch in Haight-Ashbury

A bit of shopping and socializing with some of Boyfriend’s friends

Dinner in North Beach

Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge

Watching the fog roll in along the coast (and boy, does it ever roll!)

Driving through Santa Cruz, a place that Boyfriend wouldn’t mind living in if money were no object

Driving home over the Sierras

Taking lots of pictures with Boyfriend’s awesome camera that hopefully are still there because the number of photos taken seemed to go down. I sure hope that the card didn’t fill up and decide to start erasing random pictures, because we got some really great shots.

Assuming that the pictures didn’t disappear on us, I hope to be able to post some one of these years. We didn’t get back home until 2am this morning, and right now there’s a lot of caffeine in the fridge calling my name. The best thing about this impromptu trip that Boyfriend brought up was that we were so in-your-face together since we left early Friday afternoon until I went to work this morning, and we didn’t bicker at all. We talked a lot over 1500 miles of driving, and saw me out of my element as he toured his old stomping grounds and visited with old friends, and we didn’t even want to be away from each other for a minute - not even now that we are home. And that was the best part of the trip.

Picture not mine - I found it on the internet somewhere. 

As I traveled, I wanted to take pictures, but also wanted some consistency and of course wanted to remember where I took the picture. So, state welcome signs were it. Here ya go:

I’m back. Here are my journal blog entries from the time I was gone. If you can’t read it, just click to enlarge.

I’m finishing up lots of other things, and I’ll blog more later.

Ok, so I’m estimating. I’m at my Aunt Bird and Uncle N Period’s house in New Jersey, and this is most likely the last chance for internet that I will have until I get home. I’ve been writing blog posts in my journal, a la Serena (but without the lovely drawings, because I’m not that good), and once I get home to my scanner I’ll post them all for you. Because of that, I’m going to keep this post short. Also, there is a bird who likes me and wants to gnaw on my shirt:

So, in the interest of keeping Petey from totally attacking me, I’m logging off for now. I’m aiming for getting home on Monday, November 6th, and once I check my mail and all that other fun stuff, I will most definitely be blogging.

Until then…

Photo courtesy Aunt Bird 

That’s right folks, in just 8 hours I will be on Runway 25 Right at McCarran International Airport, hopefully inside a Boeing 757, ready to take off for New Hampshire, where my new car awaits me. I’ve got my boarding passes printed out, but since I’ve been sooooo busy with work and being a social butterfly, I still have much to do in the next 8 hours.

I’ve already done laundry, but I still need to pack. I’m running the dishwasher, now that it’s fixed, so that I won’t have dirty dishes sitting while I’m gone. I’m currently ripping CDs into iTunes so that I can update my iPod, and I’m also searching for other tunes I want so I can upload those too. Then there’s the blog updating, apartment cleaning, taking out trash, double and triple checking that I have everthing, catching up on blogs, and perhaps sleep if there is time. With the schedule I’ve been keeping lately, I somehow doubt I’ll get to sleep before it’s time to go to the airport, which is fine with me. I am very good at sleeping on airplanes, and whether I get a decent amount of sleep or not, I do plan on sleeping in flight.

My cast has a decent amount of graffiti on it now. Here’s a sampling:

• “Oops” - from my new boss
• “Hope u get better” - VegasRic
• “Get off my arm fast!!!” - Russ, the other half of the A/V crew at church
• “Crash + Burn ♥” - a teen at church
• a picture of a donut - new boss’s son
• - AJ
• “Kirsten, I enjoy dancing with you in Vegas - Love, Valentino” - Assistant Shoe Boss (whose name is not Valentino, and who I have never danced with)

I’m sure I’ll get more graffiti on it during my trip, so I’ll take a picture of it later for you. And yes, even though I’m not packed yet, my camera is on top of my still-empty bag.

I have had a busy few days. I got home Saturday morning from VegasRic’s house a bit after 7, slept for about 4 hours, showered, ran an errand then went to my friend’s office to help him organize a bunch of papers. Boy, there were tons of papers just thrown about in piles. I got a lot done, got free lunch and some money (always a bonus), then another friend picked me up around 8 for a Halloween party. That was a blast, and I even got bitten by a vampire! It didn’t break the skin, unfortunately, but it was a great bring-me-to-my-knees bite on the back of my neck. What fun! I got home from that around 2? Not sure exactly with the time change, but I did manage to get a few hours of sleep before church this morning.

I couldn’t stay for both services at church this morning, since I had to go into the store earlier than I am available. I agreed to that because today is the only day all week that I am working, so extra hours are good, plus I was scheduled to work with AJ, whom I haven’t seen in too long. We were laughing because Ashes quit, but the manner in which she turned in her notice was different, to say the least. Yesterday, Shoe Boss called Ashes about something, perhaps her schedule (I wasn’t made clear on the purpose of the call), and her voice mail picked up. It went something like this: “Hi, this is Ashes, I can’t take your call, leave a message. Oh, and if this is the job, I quit!” Yeah. Anyway, AJ and I worked for about 4 hours together today and had great fun talking about computers and catching up on life in general (in between selling shoes of course).

Now, I don’t think I will have much chance to get online over the next week or so while I am driving cross country, so please, don’t panic!!! I am still here, and I will be taking many notes to be able to have one heckuva post for you when I return. I’ll be taking pictures, visiting friends, listening to music, and spending a lot of time on the open road, in addition to a little visit with my family. I’m really looking forward to this. Of course, once I get back, I will be starting my new job and getting back to super busy and all that jazz. But I’ll still blog. Just not for the next week.

See you all when I get back.

You have a million things to do. I am leaving on a 7am flight Monday morning to go back to NH to get my car. I am really looking forward to this trip, for a number of reasons. It’s spontaneous. I get to see my family. I get to take a road trip. And I get to DigsMeet my way across the country. So I leave in about 52 hours, and I have so much to do and so much planned.

Tonight, the plan was to get off work, do some laundry, and go out later for a couple of hours. The later turned into earlier, I didn’t get laundry done, and a couple hours turned into double that. Then, because I have work to do for VegasRic that for some odd reason I can’t do at my own home, I am now at his house, at 1:30am, to get it done. He says no hurry about the time, but it’s bugging me that I can’t get it done at home and I want to get it done sometime this year. So maybe in another hour or 2 he’ll be ready to get down to work.

Saturday (later today), I might try to get that laundry done in the morning. Then in the afternoon I told another friend that I would help him organize his office and get some filing done. If it’s as big a mess as he says it is, that will take until, oh, maybe 6pm or later. Then I am going to a Halloween party, but not sure exactly what time it’s at. Knowing this crowd, I’m sure it won’t start before 8, but it will go well after midnight. Don’t worry about me though, this time I am getting a ride so I should arrive home completely intact.

Sunday will be my usual - church and work. But, we change the clocks back so I should be ok for sleep and be able to get through the day. Then after work I will need to go home and do laundry because I will have neglected it again Saturday morning. I also have to pack and remember to set my alarm for an ungodly hour (as in, I’d rather stay up that late than wake up that early). Get my ass to the airport, turn in the rental car, and hope a plane to NH. I just read some nasty news about the weather back there, so I hope it holds out long enough to get me into town without too many delays and get out of town without slipping and sliding all over the roads. It’s been nearly 4 years since I’ve driven in the snow, and in a new car very out of practice, and so soon after getting into a wreck is not the time to try again. Heck, living in the desert I can barely drive in the rain anymore.

So that’s it for now. I promise I’ll post again before I leave, because once I’m on the road I’m not counting on having internet access. But I will bring my camera, so no worries there. You’ll hear all about it when I get back.

Not dressed up necessarily, but dressed, and it’s one of those rare occassions that my hair looks really good and isn’t flat. I thought I might be hanging out with The Man again tonight, but he had other plans. I know he’s still reeling from all the drama from this past week, and I’m trying my darndest to be a good friend, because I know he needs that right now. But it’s hard for me. I don’t want to be just friends with him. I want more. Heck, I met him because I answered his personal ad, and it wasn’t in the “just friends” section. I’m trying to be understanding while he deals with the shit in his life, but I have such a hard time with that because I like him and I’m really attracted to him. I keep hoping that any moment he’ll turn around and knock my socks off, if you know what I mean. Does that make me a bad person because he needs friends and understanding right now and all I want is to be swept off my feet? I’m starting to feel like a selfish bitch, and I really don’t want to feel this way. With or without being swept off my feet, I still like spending time with him. Argh.

So here it is, 9pm on a Saturday night - my only day off during the week, and what do I have to show for my day? I got the slides done for church tomorrow, and emailed those off to Pastor Dave. I vacuumed, washed the floors, did laundry, and cleaned the kichen a bit. Then I showered and went to the store to pick up a few things I needed. Came home, ate supper, watched a movie, and here I am, on the computer with a cup of ice cream in front of me. I still feel restless though, because I want to go out and do something. I’ve been sitting at home for so long, having no life, and these past few weeks I’ve really really been wanting a life. But I don’t go to clubs, I don’t go out and just expect to meet people. I’d rather hang with people I already know or meet people through existing connections. I can’t walk down the street and say, hey, lets hang out, and have it happen.

When I lived back east, I used to like to go for a drive to clear my head. Did that quite a bit. I haven’t done that too much since moving out here. For one, Vegas is an island in the middle of the desert, so you’re either in the city or on a single road in the middle of nowhere. Also, I just haven’t had the need to clear my head the way I used to when I lived back there. But tonight, out of pure cabin fever, I just might go for a drive. Gas prices are coming back down, so why not grab a few CDs and go? Then when I get back maybe I’ll do the dishes.

I left work fairly frustrated today. One of the projects that I will quite possibly never finish is to clean up the database. It seems that every time I figure out how to standardize a particular feature and start on it (we have over 400,000 contacts and 30,000 companies in the db), the team comes up with something new to do. Lately it’s been renumbering the documents that are on the server to bring it more in line with the files in the db, since the db automatically assigns an ID number to every record and this will make it easier to find related docs/records. No big deal, but today, when I am well into this phase of the project, yet another method of organizing the documents comes up. I really don’t agree with this new method for a number of reasons. Previously, the docs were being filed geographically. Makes sense, especially when the way they should be accessed is directly from the database, since we can attach the docs to the record that way instead of going through folders on the server. Now, within these geographical confines, they want the docs broken down further into categories, which will require me to open each and every doc and read it thorougly to determine which category it will go in. Now here’s what I don’t get. Some members of the team want me to be a cheerleader/whipcracker to get them to use the database more, because of it has the ability to store all of the information we need and has many wonderful features. One of these features is search codes. If a simple search can be run in the database using these search codes, among other fields, then why do the docs need to be organized by category? So they can continue to not use the database that we pay bucketloads of money to keep the license on every year? If that’s the way they want to do things, then why the heck don’t we just go back to a pure paper system or use a simple contact management system instead of our very complete, very expensive database? So we can use the built-in IM program to see what everyone is getting for lunch? I’ve had it up to my eyeballs right now. I’ve never meant this so much as I do today, but TGIF!!!!!

< /end rant>

I’ve noticed something about myself. The more I blog and the more I want to spend time doing anything and everything related to blogging, the more frustrated I am or the more there is something in my day to day life that I want to avoid. I do really enjoy blogging, frustrations or no, but the intensity picks up with the intensity of other issues. I don’t know, I guess it just means I have some stuff to figure out. I do have one big thing figured out (the cryptic issue I keep referring to that will be revealed in more detail at a later date), but I need to figure out the “in the meantime” stuff to keep me sane and help me work towards my goals, which all lead to cryptic issue. When it’s safe to reveal cryptic issue I’ll talk more and this will make so much more sense to all of you. In the meantime I’ll just continue to discuss it with my head-shrinker.

I’m working on a few additional revenue sources. I won’t put AdSense on my blog, mainly because I want total and complete control over all the content, but I do have a few affiliate programs that I signed up for when I was trying to start an organizing business. The website I had is gone, but an email from amazon last week made me realize that I am still signed up and could still make use of that. So I dusted off my old records, logged into my accounts, changed the websites involved, and put up some links. You’ll find them in the new section titled “Help Me Make A Buck.” I’m also working on a few other affiliate things, so you might see more things there in the future. I’ll never put something up on there that I wouldn’t personally use myself - it’s just not my style. And you’ll never find a paypal or straight out donation button. Again, not my style. I figure if I’m gonna make some money, at least I’m gonna work for it in some way, shape, or form, and you’ll get something out of it. If you feel the need to give for the sake of giving, there are people needier than me, so let them benefit from your charitable mood. My favorite is this one. (I bet you never figured me to be a good Christian, eh?)

I was brought back to the idea of a road trip recently. As I mentioned way in the beginning when I first started my blog, I drove here to Vegas from my home state of Massachusetts. Since I had a rental truck and my dad with me, who was short on time, I didn’t get to see anything except I-70 and a bunch of truck stops most of the way, along with a few other roads on either end of that. But man, was that drive invigorating! I love all things road related, and I even have a (very) small photo collection of road signs. Unfortunately for me, I never think about taking a picture of something until I’ve gone well past it. But this guy must be making a living or something by attempting to photograph nearly every road sign in the country and then some. If you like signs like I do, check it out. Two other cool websites for road tripping are here and here. I’ll add all of these to my links in the sidebar.

Well, now that I’ve calmed down from my day at work, thanks in part to that free crack massage that some dealer is trying to get me addicted to so I’ll spend a ton of money on one of their massage beds, I think I’ll surf a few hundred more blogs before I turn in for the night. Tomorrow is Saturday, my only day off, and I’ve got the usual list of errands to run before church and work at Job#2 on Sunday afternoon. ‘Til later, then.

One would think that Las Vegas, the fastest growing city in the country, would be a prime area to build an IKEA. Despite pleas from myself and countless others, IKEA still won’t come here, which means we must go to them. Covina, CA is the closest one - a mere 4 hour drive each way. Did I mention that the drive is through barren desert? There’s like, 2 towns the whole way down there until you get to civilization again on the other side of the San Bernadino National Forest. Ok, 3 towns if you count Baker. Still, that’s a long way to go without anything to look at.

It’s been about 2 years since my last IKEA trip, and since I just moved into a new place, I figured it was perfect timing. Besides, I’m just about out of salmon sauce. I’ve been doing my homework, doing my budget and checking out what’s available so I could go in with a plan of action.

Saturday morning I woke up early to get a head start on the ride. I like to get there, eat an early lunch, shop my brains out, and be back by dinnertime. I was on the road a little before 7am, before most of the traffic. I had my carefully selected music since I detest playing radio roulette, and I had plenty of water and some snacks for the drive. Everything was going along fine until about 30 minutes before Baker I saw a small something on the road. I was in the left lane, and with a big rig next to me, there was no chance of moving aside. The shoulder to my left was dangerous at best, since it was in a pass (a pass, for those who don’t know, is a winding road through a somewhat mountainous area that has little of anything else except danger). This small thing was gray, looked like metal, and was about the size and shape of a 2-liter soda bottle cut in half. I tried to avoid it, and I thought I had enough room to either straddle it or go around, but I was wrong. I hit it with my right front tire.

Luckily, I had both hands on the wheel and was in complete control of my vehicle the whole time. I got to the right, put my hazards on, and carefully went out to survey the damage. Oy Vey! Who knew a little thing like that could do so much damage to a measly tire? There were 4, count ‘em, 4 huge gashes in the sidewall of my tire. It was toast. Even if I carried Fix-a-Flat with me, it wouldn’t have helped. Good thing I know how to change a tire - almost. I secured my car, set the parking brake, put something behind the opposite tire to keep the car from rolling, and got out the gear. My idiot tire had air in it, so I got that out and jacked up my car. Those stupid things that come with the car are almost useless. You can’t get enough torque to do the job properly! But I managed, until it came time to take the tire off. Those stupid lug nuts were so tight, I could not get them off. I had just given up and was starting to walk to the call box to call for help (I don’t have AAA, and I’ll tell youwhy in a moment) when a trucker pulled over to help me. He finished changing my tire and since he had a car carrier with some room on it, offered me a ride to Barstow, but I decided to go to Baker and see what I could do from there.

I got my scrap rubber put away and the rest of my tools in the trunk and continued on my way to Baker. Boy, was I nervous driving on the idiot tire on the highway. And in this part of the country, if you’re not on the highway, you’re on a dirt road that may or may not be legit, so highway it was. When I got to Baker, I found a garage that was open. The proprietor, who had 2 teeth and no hair, said he could fix my rim, which was dented by the mystery object, and said he’d sell me a new tire, all for the low price of $65. Since my Dad owns a garage, I knew this was a decent price, especially being in the middle of nowhere - I could have been seriously hosed with no other options. The guy fixed my tire rather quickly and I was on my way, praying hard that there would be no more mishaps on the way. I can’t afford it!

I got to IKEA just fine, only set back by 45 minutes which I believe is record time for being in the middle of nowhere. I ate my lunch in the Swedish Cafe, and continued my thorough search of the store to make sure I got everything on my list and didn’t miss any other incidentals. Here’s what I bought:

I wanted the Bjoberg storage bench, but taking into consideration the money I just spent on a tire, along with the fact that the box is a bit too big and heavy for me to drag into my 2nd floor apartment by myself, I ended up with this instead. I have it covered with a throw blanket so it doesn’t look so primitive, and someday it will go nicely in my lakehouse. Another bonus - it only took about 5 mintues to put together. I’m pretty well versed in IKEA furniture assembly, and this one is something anyone can do.

I also wanted some stuff for my kitchen, to make the best use possible of the ill-planned space I have. I’ve been lusting after the Grundtal series, so after careful consideration of my needs and some of the habits I’ve been developing in regard to my space, I got the mid-sized rail, the single paper towel holder, and the chopping board. It’s already hung over my sink and I must say, really classes the place up.

A spur of the moment purchase was this colander, and let me just say, that thing is HUGE! Sunday afternoon I made some pasta salad, using an entire 16oz package of pasta, and when I used my new colander to drain it, the pasta barely filled it halfway! I don’t usually cook large quantities, so usually my little old-style Tupperware colander does just fine. But this will come in really handy when I do have those larger amounts. Besides the attractive price, this colander will look really nice if I neglect to put it away.

I was looking at lighting, but I still have not decided what to do about my computer area, since both floor space and desktop space are at a premium, there is no outlet in the ceiling, and there is no wall switch that corresponds to the outlet there. So I’m still thinking that one over. I also thought about a picture frame for some artcards I got a couple years ago, but I decided that I should unpack my decorations and see what I still want to do at that point before I go and buy any more decorations.

Now, why I don’t have AAA. See, when I lived back east, my dad just put me on his account, and it didn’t cost me a thing. I still never really used it because the only times I needed a tow, it was either snowing like crazy and they wouldn’t come get me, or it was really late at night and even if I did get AAA to tow me, I’d still have to call Dad and wake him up so I could get home, so in those cases I just bypassed AAA and went straight to Dad. Once I moved to Las Vegas, I paid $79 to transfer my membership and didn’t use it at all. So I decided to discontinue it. Now, considering what transpired on Saturday, I still don’t think I’ll get it again. For one, I was in the middle of nowhere and might still be waiting if I had called for help. And I still would have ended up buying a new tire. Still not worth it to me. My car is fairly new and well-maintained, so overall I’m not worried about a breakdown, and we already know I can change a tire as long as I have some muscle available. My biggest worry during the whole tire incident was having my day ruined by not getting to IKEA at all, and/or being bit in the ass by a certain poisonous legless reptile that is abundant in desert areas. I was actually more afraid of that then my car being hit or some psycho trying to “help” me. Again, not something that AAA could help me with.

So all in all, my IKEA trip went well. I got set back just 45 minutes and $65, which considering the circumstances isn’t too bad. I got most of what I wanted and got home about 12 1/2 hours after I set out. For some reason I was exhausted when I got home, which is unusual. Long car trips usually leave me invigorated and restless, and I can’t sit still when I get out of the car. Saturday, though, once I got all my stuff in the house, I collapsed. Literally. I got home about 7:15pm and was asleep before 8, and I slept all night long. And that was the best part of my day.

I’ve taken a few road trips in my life. Not really long and great ones. Usually when I needed to I’d just grab a few CDs and drive around aimlessly for a few hours. A few times a year there was the 5 hour drive to visit relatives in the mid-Atlantic states. Though I know that route by heart, it was usually the best road trip I could hope for on my extremely limited budget. I also have a friend in Toronto, and that 10 hour drive I’ve done a few times, most recently in 2001 about a month after being laid off. But I’ve never been on a real go-somewhere road trip, until I moved to Vegas.

Now, I was on a mission to get to Vegas, and since my dad was driving the van with all my belongings right behind me the whole way, I didn’t have a lot of time to dilly dally and actually see anything. So, the trip went something like this:

Day 1: Left early, drove from home to just outside of Columbus, OH. Checked into a Motel 6. Walked to Bob Evans to eat dinner. Food was tolerable, service sucked. Walked back to Motel 6. Wrote in my journal while Dad snored. Fell asleep.

Day 2: Left early, again. Drove from Columbus area to Salina, KS. Checked into Salina Inn (or something like that). Drove to some family style restaurant down the street for some mediocre meal, drove back to hotel. Wrote in my journal while Dad snored. Fell asleep.

Day 3: Left a bit later than usual. Drove from Salina to Colorado Springs. Got some relatives there. Arrived mid afternoon, so there was time to visit. Went to Garden of the Gods, back to relative’s house, ate dinner. Relatives have big house with million dollar view. Dad had his own room, so it was quiet while I journaled. Fell asleep.

Day 4: Left early. Said goodbye to relatives. Drove over Rockies. Dad had headache from the altitude. Utah is full of rocks, almost fell asleep. Dad drove right through a mean dust devil. Arrived in Vegas around 6pm. Unloaded bed, went to dinner at cheap casino restaurant, came home and went to bed.

So, as you can see I didn’t really get a chance to see much. We didn’t even get off the interstate except to pee. I would really have liked to see where so many of those other roads went. Like, in Missouri, where will I go if I get off at Road EE, where will I end up? I want to see the byways - I’ve seen enough of the highways. I want to see the guts of this place, the good people and the hideous yet fascinating roadside attractions. So, with that kind of thinking in mind, this is a bit more what my drive out here went like:

Day 1: Got up early. Said bye to mom and stepdad. Went upstairs to wake nephew to say goodbye to him. He wasn’t really awake, so I picked up his limp body and hugged him until his wicked sleepy dragon breath drove me away. Went in other room and kissed my sweet sleeping niece goodbye. Went back downstairs and hugged my mom until I told her to let go. As I was pulling out of the driveway, I took note of the song on the radio. I hadn’t yet put any CDs in, so the extreme appropriateness of this random moment will stick with me for quite some time. The song was “Drive” by Incubus. You can find the lyrics at the site I have listed in my links. But the song is about not letting your fears be in the driver’s seat. Oh yeah, that was powerful. I never really listened to that song before that moment. Sure, I’d heard it many, many times. I have the CD. But I’d never listened to it. I’m glad that DJ played it that morning.

Got to my Dad’s where he was waiting for me. I took a quick bathroom break and one last look around. Then we were off. Most of that day, we were on roads I was familiar with, and I was having a bittersweet moment all day. I was glad to finally be getting out, but sad that I had no idea when I would next see those familiar sights. Plus, it was a grey, dreary day, perfect for the reflective mood I was in.

Day 2: Definitely no turning back now. The reality was setting in that this wasn’t a dream and I was really going. Left behind the Motel 6 in Ohio and drove through some really rural areas. Ohio, Indiana, southern Illinois, over the mighty Mississippi to Missouri, past lots of billboards for Ozarkland, then to Kansas City. Good thing it was a Sunday and there was no traffic. On the MO side, the highway turned and curved so often that I felt like I was on a roller coaster. I didn’t know which end was up. Then, over the border to Kansas the road suddenly straightened out, and stayed straight through pretty much the whole state. I popped in a CD that I thought was appropriate for the landscape - the Twister soundtrack - and kept an eye on the sky. It was mid-June, and I’ve never seen a tornado. Might be exciting, but not with all my worldly possessions in tow. This was also the most exhilarating part of the drive. Not sure why I thought so. Here’s a picture, maybe you can figure it out:

I felt like I could drive forever in this landscape. I could see for miles, nothing but green fields, along with a few barns and cows. Boring, but I really liked it.

Day 3: This was going to be a short day since we’d be stopping in Colorado Springs. Only 6 1/2 hours today, compared to 14 and 15 hours the last 2 days. We saw more of the beautiful Kansas landscape, then things started to get a little less verdant as we headed uphill into Colorado on the High Plains. Soon the Rockies were in sight, and I was excited since I’d only ever seen them in pictures and once from an airplane. There is something so harsh, though, about the Rockies. Something so unforgiving. Those who have actually spent time there know what I mean.

We took a nice break visiting with relatives (from my Mom’s side - my Dad had never even met these people before, but no matter). Saw a tiny bit of Colorado Springs and Garden of the Gods. Overall, it was a relaxing break from all the driving.

Day 4: It was 47 degrees out the morning we left. I put a sweater on as I said goodbye to relatives. Going over the steep hills and sharp turns of I-70 through the Colorado Rockies, there was still snow on the ground. I admired the scenery a bit, but the road here demanded a lot of attention.

When we got to Utah, wow. Beautiful, majestic, snooze-inducing landscapes. Yes, I nearly fell asleep behind the wheel. There are quite a few ranch exits, but that’s it. Oh, every now and then you come to a travel station. I stopped at all 3 of them. Ok, not sure of the exact number, but seriously, once you hit Utah, you need to stop every time you see one because the next one could be 2 hours off. And Dad thought I was being a freak when I said we’d better stop at every one because you never know when you’ll get the chance again.

Somewhere in the middle of Utah, I saw a dust devil. Not the handful of leaves swirling around in a corner behind the building that we are so used to seeing at home. This was awesome. This was the kind of thing they warn motorist about. It was maybe 10 stories tall (or taller - I had nothing to compare it to). When I drove by, it was in the median. Then I looked at my Dad through the rearview mirror. It was crossing the road. I saw the yellow moving van swerve into the breakdown lane, almost off the road. My stuff!!! Then Dad corrected and kept going. At the next rest stop, Dad was a bit upset at me for making him drive through a tornado. I had no idea, honestly! And he didn’t have to drive right through the middle of it! But we survived, my stuff survived, and we got to Vegas just in time for dinner. Did I mention it was about 105 degrees in Vegas? We went from 47 to 105 in one day.

So I got here, tired and wired. I wanted to see more, but I had to unpack and get the van back. Dad had one more day before he flew home so we went to the Hoover Dam, had lunch on the Strip, and spent one last day together before father and daughter would be living 2700 miles apart instead of 15 miles apart.