planetkris

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the crash…

Headed up the I-15 with the other 1.2 bajillion people wanting a weekend in the desert. We left Saturday morning and made quick work of the 275 miles. Christine and I hit the strip for the second time.

Now we had a plan. Having been here before prevented us from suffering sensory overload. We started at the Aladdin, looked for grandma. Got a hold of Tine’s Aunt Linda - still couldn’t find the elusive grammy. Went up to the NY-NY to hit the Manhattan Express Coaster. Worked our way over to the Sahara and hit the Speed Coaster. At this pont we had satisfied our requirements for the weekend.

Back to the Aladdin to meet up with Grandma and crew. We grabbed the car and hustled over to the Rio. Hustled being a better word for “Drove like I was in New York.” Cars going everywhere, taxis, no-U-turns. Zip-zip.

At the Rio they have one of the famous Vegas Buffets we couldn’t find last time we were here. I settled in to the first strike. Here there are no rules like “no breakfast with dinner” or “no cookies with meat.” It’s anything goes! So I grabbed 4 tuna rolls, 2 CA rolls, some soybeans, and a pound of pulled pork. Sushi & BBQ - Andrew would be proud.
We played the slots a little. We enjoyed ourselves. But this trip cemented the fact that Kris & Christine are not Vegas people. I have a bit of a sore throat and Tine has a cold. The smokers everywhere didn’t help. If you time portaled from 1950 with a pack of Chesterfields in your pocket you would be happy to see that you can still enjoy a smoke. Smoke two. Ashtrays in the urinals.

Sunday it rained… This happens apparently whenever we show up. It’s a sign. Enjoyed another brunch buffet with some more of Christine’s aunt’s friends. We left in the downpour at 2:00.

I got a temporary gig working for a tech company in Irvine. It’s easy work and it pays better then the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I have other things on the horizon as well.

This Saturday, Christine and I are headed out to Las Vegas. Her grandmother and aunt are making a big trip out. We decided to book a cheap hotel and spend a night out there. We want to hit some of the coasters out there - but I’m not sure we’ll have a lot of time. More of a trip to see Gram and company then a trip to see sin city.

I’m quite creative and imaginative at times. The problem is you can never quite tell when it’s going to happen. I’ve gotten used to sitting around waiting for creativity to strike. Sometimes I can induce it with music, or mood, but mostly it comes on it’s own.

The downside is I struggle through things until the magic imagination starts. I’ve worked on things for hours or days, only to tear up what I started and wail down something a hundred times better in about 10 minutes.

Our “Road Trip USA” is putting me on the spot. It’s turned up the heat. Create quality entertaining content while you upload 300 pictures, get gas, find food, oh - and drive across the country! Preview, crop, size, tag, upload, email, publish. I’m getting in the swing of typing posts while on the road. Tine is a lot better at it. I would say that my best work is in the photos. I’m really trying to capture some great shots. About 10% of what I take doesn’t make the cut.

For example: I re-worked Postcard number 7 about 4 times. Then I deleted it and started again. This is tough when you have one night to create and upload.

So I say: “Content shouldn’t matter so much.” We are having the time of our lives. A great adventure. One that I’ll tell stories about forever. Look for more from myself and Christine as we finish up our trip across country. Time for me to get some more sleep.

We almost messed up. We almost got our stuff taken, lost, held for ransom. We almost allowed Road Runner Moving and Storage to screw us. At the last minute I slammed my hand down on the ABORT button and came up with an alternate plan.

Simple to me, confusing to others: Everything that Christine and I want to end up in California went to my Manchester apartment. Everything else went to my parents’ house, Christine’s parents house, or Christine’s apartment in Massachusetts. This was done because my lease ends this week, and we won’t be leaving for Irvine until the end of August. The original plan was to have the movers grab all of our stuff in Manchvegas and bring it to storage, then deliver it to Irvine in September. Meanwhile Christine and I would live out of suitcases and household items that need to go to back to her parents’ house in NJ. To the outsider we have been moving in and out, back and forth from two apartments. We have completely confused our neighbors as to whether we are moving IN or OUT of either apartment.

Saturday I get a call from the movers. It’s an 818 number. (what’s that? NY, PA, NJ?) They tell us that the truck is going to be there at 2 o’clock Sunday. They originally said 9:00. “Okay, whatever, more time to prep.” Sunday morning. Final preparation. 2:00 comes and goes. Then 3:00. I call the company; “What’s going on?” The driver calls me back and explains that they have been pulled over by the state police, and that they may need to do some “maintenance” on the truck. “Right. Okay. So, when will you get here?” They will call me back in an hour. 5 o’clock comes and goes. I call the driver again. “Doesn’t look like it’s going to be tonight.” Furious, I call the main number and get a recording. I leave a message to that extent and Christine and I head back to Hudson, with my apartment still full of boxes ready to go.

Monday morning. No call. I spend from eight to ten looking up information on this company and formulating a backup plan. Keep in mind I have until the end of this week to get my stuff out, and then a month to find another mover. This was good planning on my part. Who I chose for a mover was not. After I read this on the “Movers Blacklist.” Remember the 818 area code? It’s a California number. Not a MA, NJ, NY number like I was expecting.

Doing more research I found that there are several moving companies named “Roadrunner Moving and Storage”. I cross referenced a phone number they gave us and did another bbb.org search. It turns out the moving company we hired did not have a clean Better Business Bureau record. It had a horible one. I call up my Dad to get a “sanity check.” Then I call Christine at work. Plan “B” is to move our stuff into a local storage place and then have movers pick it up there. It also seems like a good idea at this time to look into the “you pack it, we move it” type of movers. The one caveat with that is, not all storage places will let you drop off 2 giant shipping containers on their property, even for a day.

After several phone calls, I contacted State of the Art Storage in Hooksett, NH. They were very helpful and said that it wouldn’t be a problem to have a moving company drop off a container for a couple of days. This way we could move our items from their storage unit into the shipping container, or have a moving company retrieve our items right from storage. Plus the cost of the 15X5 unit was less then the other places I called. These guys are great! If you are in the Manchester or Concord, NH area, call them up!

So we rallied the troops. Christine contacted City to City movers and setup a time in August to deliver containers to State of the Art Storage, while I called, emailed, and irc’d some help. We got a moving crew together and headed back to Manchester, rented a U-Haul van, and got sweaty.

I want to give a huge “Thank You!” and shouts out to the following people: Dad - “Yes, tell them to shove it.” Brian Callahan - “I just need a ride.” James Mackey - “I’m out at 7:00.” Ian Bowers - “I’ll help as much as I can.” Sean Sosik-Hamor - “No traffic. So, I’ll be there in an hour.” Of course Christine “I may not have brought it down the stairs, but I touched every box in there.” Peggy from State of the Art Storage - “Sure, not a problem.” Dawn from City to City movers - “That’s your reward for calling in April.”

I just finished book four “Wizard and Glass” and I’m heading onto “Wolves of the Calla.” Christine graciously reserved it for me at the library.

“Wizard and Glass” was a great read. I’m almost sorry I didn’t read it sooner. Almost. Based on some of the opinions over at thedarktower.net, I think I understood it’s place in the series better then most. I really enjoyed it.

Last time, I mentioned that I read books one through three while listening to “Nirvana - Nevermind.” Well, with this book I stumbled upon another album that seemed to go quite well with what was going on. “The Future Sound of London - Dead Cities.” It’s got a industrial zip-zap western feel. One minute you think you hear the sound of the thinny, the next you are riding into town with your Ka-tet. With tracks like “Heard Killing” and “My Kingdom,” I’m instantly transported under the kissing moon in Mejis. “We Have Explosive” fits perfectly here as well.

I hope Christine has some time to read the first few books and catch up with Ray and I. I’ve added a handful of “Dark Tower’isms” to my vocabulary and I don’t want to give away anything she hasn’t read. Mmmm. This tooter-fish popkin tastes great!

When I first posted the WRC Rally Mexico pictures, I omitted the “vacation” pictures. You know - the fun, crazy pics you take while in another country. Pics of the hotel, pictures we took inside the super market called “Mega,” and other antics. I’ve commented on a bunch so you may get a better idea what’s happening in the picture and for comedic value. It was a bushel barrel of sprinkles. - How could I NOT take a picture?!

Please feel free check it out here:
The lost Mexico pictures.

I pulled my ice cube tray out the other night and found something strange. One of the cubes had grown a spike! I thought - “Okay, I can explain this…” I looked inside the freezer to see where water was dripping from the ceiling of the box. I found none. This is your garden variety GE refrigerator. With self defrost. You know - one of the ones that doesn’t drip, or leak.

So my next guess is that the air bubble that got trapped inside the cube burst. forcing the water / ice slowly upward. It looks like it was flash frozen though. Very curious.

I also think this could be one of those quantum mechanical moments. 1,000 ice cube trays - 1,000 freezers - 1,000 years = one of them goes haywire. If there are any science nuts out there that would like to take a crack at it - please enlighten me.

Update: Igg found a great article on Ice Spikes done by Kenneth Libbrecht researching ice crystals at Caltech. Upon further investigation it seems that conditions in my freezer had to be just right and the fact that they formed using tap water is even more amazing. I was happy however to discover that my scientific guess on why this happened was on the money.

I thought it was pretty clear cut.

You’ve got a “Working Man”, but there is a “Communication Breakdown.” Then they are let down, or “Let you down.” So now all I have is a “Home Life.” Ahh, so you were a “working man”, but now you’re home all the time. There was a “breakdown” so I was laid off. “The move” and “going to California” are pretty clear. I’m moo-ving to Cali-forn-ya. Plus I had to throw the Beasties in there somehow.

I’ve sort of had to be tight lipped for the last couple of months. I wasn’t sure my old company wasn’t going to try and screw me over. Plus I found out that they like to read employees websites. “Hi guys!” I was the last guy in and they apparently needed to downsize. Plus my work has a habit of not showing up good for the numbers game.*

* Jane closed 15 calls, John closed 5. Bad John, bad! Not looking at the fact that John had to rebuild 3 machines, solve 1 common problem and one major one. Jane reset 12 passwords, 2 routers, and 1 common problem. John did 7 hours of work and Jane did 7 minutes of work. Woot!

Now that I know this, I’m glad I failed to mention on any of my websites that I was considering a move to California this August. I’m sure that would have been fired on the spot.

So, what’s this? Okay, my girl Christine (ubersmart molecular biologist) has accepted a grad school position at the University of California, Irvine in Cali.

She warned me that I might have to follow her across the country depending on where she got accepted. I also knew that she really wanted to study for a few years in California. So, we “kept it real” during the first months of our relationship. Either of us could walk if we felt like this wasn’t going to be the “right thing.”

Well, nine months with Christine have turned out to be very much of a right thing. I love a lot about her, especially her drive. A drive to better herself and get everything she wants out of life. I don’t see this that often in women. I love that she’s dragging me around as much as I’m dragging her in every possible direction. Truly a constant adventure. Here’s a picture of us on our way to Mexico. Right after we snuck onto a Hotel shuttle in order to get out of a $25 cab ride to the airport.

So, I’m broke. I’m eating ramen, and singing this song. I had a problem with NH and MA unemployment that I’m not even going to go into. I will survive. Bank North is my favorite phone buddy.

Having been through a downward trend in my life before. No. Wait. I don’t think having your wife leave you for one of the guys in the Subaru club (that you started) while at a rally that you want to someday compete in, six months after you were laid off, is a fucking downward trend. No, what I have here is an opportunity compared to that cluster.

So I’m going to try to eliminate some debt by selling my Subaru. Keep the rallycar in storage. Sell some stuff on Ebay. Hit the flea markets. My lease ends in July.

The next adventure awaits…

“Working Man” - Rush
“Communication Breakdown” - Led Zeppelin
“Let You Down” - Dave Matthews Band
“Home Life” - John Mayer
“The Move” - Beastie Boys
“Going to California” - Led Zeppelin

O.o;

Two things lead to the demise of my weekend. I’m very big on the causality of events. Tracing decisions a few pages back, like a “Choose your own adventure” book. Oh, if I had run from the dragon on page 86 I would have found the princess in Ankh-Morpork. Then if I had drank the potion over on 114. I would have found the gold on page 32.

James and I gathered the stuff required to put a 3″ lift in da’Jeep. We picked up the compressor from Sean, bought new U bolts from AutoZone, and parked the Jeep inside the garage. We had all the right tools - or at least enough options to make anything work. Including cutting and burning one of the rear leaf bushings out.

Christine was coming back from Snow Carolina on Sunday. The poor thing has a cold. She did her UNC interviews with a frog voice and a runny nose. I know she was tired of traveling after being delayed on Thursday and having it snow on Friday.

James had tried his best to determine what parts he needed for the kit. Someone had told him with confidence that he didn’t need shocks. We needed shocks. You always find out this information on a Sunday after everything is closed. He may have to special order them anyway.

Christine called me from Logan. Her ride had not shown up for an hour. Several calls to the girl that was supposed to pick her up yielded no results. At 2:00 I headed out to Boston from Bedford, NH. 115 miles later we were back where we started from.

If you want to run from the dragon, turn to page 102.
If you want to attempt to slay the dragon, turn to page 35.