Manifest Destiny FTW

Its been a while. ~2 months. The honeymoon trip still hasn't fully sunk in, but something brought it to life today.

I've been in Syracuse working since Monday(its been a long week). I was listening to music on the flight back from Syracuse to Philly, and 'Ghost Town' came up. My mind instantly went to the drive in Wyoming and where I was when that song played and the drive.

I90 getting into the state. US 16 snaking through the mountains; Worland. US 20 following a river through a valley and into a plateau; Thermopolis. Boysen reservoir. US 26 and finally seeing the grand tits of America; Grand Teton National Park.

And that was just the beginning.


That entire drive was great. The trip was great. If you ever have the opportunity to do a cross country drive, jump at it. Take US highways (stay off Interstates if at all possible). Hit up State and National parks. Stop and see why Americans thought God meant for us to have this land (sorry Native Americans, you got the shaft in that deal).

The west is calling, and the next trip is all to far away :(

oh the anticipation...

The day before a good road trip is always a good day. Its like Christmas eve when you're a kid...

- Packing of what you are going to use, knowing how and where it'll be used.
- Prepping the car for the many miles you're about to put on it. Oh the things you'll see!
- Getting the drinks/snacks for the drive. You gotta have road fuel...
- Putting everything in the car, organizing it so any passengers are comfortable, everything that should be is accessible, and you still have some vision. Although the best trips block the rear window.
- The trying to go to bed, but being so excited you don't get much sleep...


Then the morning, and BAM you're on the road :D

wedding + west

I've been counting down the months, weeks, and now days, until the next big road trip. Should be at least 8000 miles, probably not including any of the putzing at the destinations...

- Iowa for a cousin's wedding. My family is great to party with :D
- Rushmore/Badlands via a drive through
- Yellowstone(Grand Teton) camping and staying in a cabin one night
- Glacier camping and staying in a cabin one night

This is the 'summer trip', and its also doubling up as our honeymoon. The cabins are kinda the splurges, we were planning on camping the rest of the time. We're both soooooo looking forward to it. The gorgeous scenery, the drive out there and back, the camping, maybe seeing the aurora borealis, the drive back, it'll be a GREAT TIME.

Plus hopefully I'll be updating this more frequently during the trip. One of the reasons I started it and all... If I have Internet out there that is.

it was raining cats and dogs and chickens!

This morning I awoke to the sound of heavy rain. Real heavy rain. Like flood creeks in the area.

It was fun driving to work, hitting all those puddles. I didn't go over 35, even on the interstate, but it was still fun.

what a difference a day can make for the look of a house

The house has been in a not-good looking state for awhile. The front yard has been overgrown, the front bushes are being overgrown with vines/weeds/etc, the front flower bed looked sad, and the corner holly bushes were unkept at best.

Took Christine and I a day (most of yesterday afternoon and about an hour today finishing up) and the house looks 100000x better. Its like its not an abandoned house, but someone lives here!

And I've gotten the wood I need to build the shelves I need for my shot glasses, so they can be put away finally. The screen door has been mended, so it'll keep Kevin out as well as the door can be left open and keep Mindy in and pests out. I really should take some pictures, it looks good.

yay flu :(

Its been awhile since I've had the flu. I get head colds, chest colds, and allergy problems, but rarely the flu.

I left work early Wednesday because of sudden nausea, and went home to bed. After some vomiting, passing out, and an ER visit, I slept the past two days away. I'm feeling better finally, but the past few days have been a sleepy blurry haze.

I hate having the flu.



And I'm still craving a good drive; being sick hasn't helped that at all.

Jonesing for a drive

But I have work all week and am flying up to Chicago for Memorial day, so no road trips for me. So instead, here are the rules of the license plate game for anyone else traveling this weekend.

- Count each different state's license plate once
- Commercial trucks aren't allowed. Semis are cheating, they're all over the place
- You have to be able to read the state's name, not think its the state
- No changing your driving habits to see that plate that just passed you
- DC, Canadian providences, diplomatic, and Mexican plates all count
- Decide if its an overall trip count (drive up, visit at destination, drive back) or a leg count.

For the advanced players
- Count each different type of a state's plate
- Point out the furthest plate from each state you're currently in


I have yet to get to all 51 US plates (50 states + DC), the closest I've gotten is 50 (only was missing North Dakota) plus most Canadian plates and a few diplomatic plates.

HEY HEY, WHAT DO YOU SAY

Go Canes!

Just watched game 7 of the Hurricanes/Bruins game. I need to be sure to rub it in to all the guys I worked with up in Boston over the winter...

A busy month

So 3 out of the 4 weekends in April were road trips; DC, OBX, and now the mountains.

I always forget how beautiful the Blue Ridge Mountains are.

New wife and I went out to one of her friend's places in the mountains (out by Murphy, WAY out in BFE). The trip was 1092 miles, almost 350 miles each way. It was a rainy weekend, but it didn't slow us down too much.

We got out there Friday night around midnight. Christine reminded me not-so-subtly that she doesn't like driving on mountain roads. Especially at night. Especially in the rain. Met Jeff and his fiancee, and was quickly to bed.

The next day they both had to work, so we were on our own. What did we do? We headed northwest to Fontana Dam and lake. Later I got to drive the 'Tail of the Dragon', a 11 or 13 mile stretch of US 129 with 318 curves. ITS FUN. If you like driving, I highly recommend it. It must have been Mini Cooper weekend, because there were swarms of them on the road. We went into TN on 129, then shot to the TN 73 entrance of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Drove through it sightseeing. Stopped at some gorgeous overlooks, and one of them had a wild bear cub foraging in the woods! I've wanted to see a wild bear for years now (every time I see a warning bears sign, I get excited). We headed back to Jeff's place after that, getting there about 11pm.

Sunday we were going white water rafting. Christine or I had never been, but I was more nervous than she. All the safety speeches, videos, etc I've seen, I was making it worse than it needed to be. Once we were on the river (Ocoee River in TN, site of 1996 Olympic White Water Rafting course), it wasn't nearly as bad. It was rainy when we started so I was already wet, but getting into the raft (we had 5 people total), it was fun. We went down 5 miles, hitting several lines of rapids. Definitely a good experience.

After that, we headed back home. Jeff had said taking US64 would be faster, so we did. I probably should have taken it to another highway and not all the way to I26 though, because when it goes into Highlands, it gets HIGH. And the road gets windey. It was fun to drive, but once again Christine didn't enjoy it. We did see some gorgeous waterfalls from the Cullasaja river along the highway. It was about 1:45am by the time we got home. A long busy weekend, but a damn fun one.



Oh, and did I mention I picked up more stickers for my car? Between the OBX and this trip, I'll start showing my travels well!

An uneventful weekend...

So last weekend Christine and I went to the outer banks. Drove out to Hatteras Friday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. What did we do?

- Stopped and looked at starts on the way there at night.
- Played the alphabet games a few times during the trip.
- Watched the sunrise on the beach Saturday morning.
- Tried to have a 20-25 minute plane ride around the OBX. Christine's fear of heights finally got the best of her, it was a 2 minute ride.
- Went to Fort Raleigh and looked through the museum.
- Went to Big Al's Restaurant in Manteo. Coke memorabilia everywhere.
- Got married at the old site of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse by a retired park ranger involved in the move.
- Went to Owen's Restaurant, had a good meal with good company.
- Slept in Sunday with my new wife :)
- Went back to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse to get pictures and people watch.
- Putzed around the OBX, telling the family.
- Drove back, getting home around 11pm.

Trip total was 739.6 miles. Several 50 mile round trips up and down the banks. Its fun driving though the National Seashore.

And yes, you read that right :)

OBX!!!

We're going to the Outer Banks (Cape Hatteras specifically)! Yay another road trip!

Hopefully we'll leave in <10 minutes. Plus we'll be driving down NC 12 at night. Should be great to hear the surf and see stars.

Poor pup

Kevin is my cocker spaniel. He's kind of an older dog (probably between 12 and 15, I got him from the pound 5-6 years ago), and thus he's had some health problems.

Cockers are bad with the ears. Really, really, really bad. They would get so infected so often, I had to have his ear canals removed. He can't hear now, but he doesn't get as sick and he's much happier!

This time, it was a mass/growth/open wound that has gotten not better. Its right above his left hind foot, and about the size of a half dollar. Christine and I would replace the wound every night, but it seemed that every third or fourth night it would start to bleed badly. Several visits to the vet later came the referral to the NCSU Vet School.

That is where he is now. I brought him in today; the 4th year student and surgical intern both looked at him and came with options (they were ran by the resident Dr there to make sure they passed mustard). Gladly, they think they can just remove the mass/growth and the wound will heal after a few weeks.

But its $$$. He's cost quite a bit of that, but he's worth it. Some people probably give me hell for paying so much, but he's family now. His surgery to remove the mass is tomorrow (today, its 1:37am!) and between being watched for observation for a day and me and Christine going to the beach for the weekend, I'll see him (hopefully good as new) Monday.

I missed him right when I walked in the door ( having a pet that looks forward to you coming home is a good feeling)  and I miss him now.

ENDIAN-NESS

I was at the mall the other day (Triangle Town Center), and when I got back to my car, I had a note on my windshield. Thats not really something that happens often. Note that my license plate is in binary.

The note:

LICENSE PLATE DEPENDS ON ENDIAN-NESS? :)

no symetric binary #

- NCSU CS, Class of '95

My license plate is binary, but that was seriously unexpected.

DC trip - day 3

Today was the day we drove back. We did still have some time to spend in DC though. We walked around Teddy Roosevelt Island and saw his memorial circle. It was quite impressive, but you could tell not as many people see it compared to the other memorials. Being not right off of the Mall and having to drive to it from the George Washington Highway probably takes away a bulk of the tourists. 

After that, we drove down the George Washington Highway toward Mt. Vernon. Along the way, we stopped at a sailing club directly south of the Ronald Regan Airport to get some food. You could see airplanes landing and hear them taking off very well, but it was cold and windy so we didn't stay long after we finished the food. We drove along the highway to Mt. Vernon and got there, but found it was a tourist trap. $15 to see the mansion and grounds was a bit much considering we were only planning on being there for an hour max. So we headed out to US 1 and drove to I95. Stopped at Ikea since there isn't one close to home, then headed home.

The trip was just at 51 hours and we drove 591.9 miles round trip. Not bad for a weekend getaway :) Hopefully we'll have another one before the drive to Iowa for the wedding and out west in July.

DC trip - day 2

Yesterday was the full day downtown. It was raining until about 2 or 3 pm, but it was a drizzle. Not that that makes it more fun.

We walked to the Metro from the hotel (yay frequent stay points = free hotel). Took the metro to the Smithsonian stop, and got out at the National Mall. Walked towards the Tidal basin (still in the drizzle and wind) going to the Jefferson Monument. Got there, took some pictures (next few days I should be playing with those pictures, perhaps posting one) and went downstairs to the Jefferson exhibit. Because of the drizzle, Christine wanted to head somewhere more indoors, so we walked back to the Metro station and went to Union Station.

That station was huge! It was practically a mall with food court level, with access to the Metro and train lines into DC. We got something to eat there and read through the Visitor's Guide to determine what to do next. We decided the Smithsonian American History Museum.

It was sweet. We saw really just 2 exhibits in 3 hours, the Transportation exhibit and the Star Spangled Banner. The Transportation exhibit showed history of transportation in the US, including canals vs cross country trains vs cross country driving, a blurb about Route 66, about shipping containers how they work on sea/train/trucks, etc. The Star Spangled Banner was interesting, but was one of those humbling gives-you-shakes things. Its crazy that was flying up there during the War of 1812, and its still in one piece (well, except for the parts that got shot out or cut off).

When we left the museum, it was almost sundown, and we were right by the National Mall again. We walked out to get some cool pics of the Washington Monument and Capital building being lit up by the red/orange sky, then headed to the Washington Monument to camp out for the fireworks by the Tidal Basin at 8:30.

They started shooting off at the time, but they were visible from the Tidal Basin, not shot really from there. So we were blocked by buildings from the bottom half of the fireworks. We walked around to the other side of the monument to watch more, and started taking pictures of the WWII memorial and Lincoln Monument over the reflecting pool. Once the fireworks stopped, we headed to the WWII memorial.

Another one of those humbling gives-you-shakes places. The memorial is impressive, and it definitely reminds you it was a World War. We walked around it, reading all the inscriptions and the Atlantic and Pacific battles they have listed. I hope my Grandfather (who fought in the Battle of the Bulge) had a chance to see it before he passed away last year.

After that, we headed back, stopping by the Washington Monument to feel like real shorties - it makes your neck hurt to stand right by it and look STRAIGHT up. We went back to the Metro and headed back to the hotel.

Left the hotel at around 11am, got back just after 11pm. 12 hours of Washington DC, it was very enjoyable.

We'll see what happens today.

DC trip - day 1

Yesterday we left for DC after work. We left the house at 5:15, but wasn't really on the road until 6 (stopped by Christine's parents house, fueled up the car, got some food for the road, etc). The route?

US64 - I95 - I295 (around Richmond) - I95 - I395 to the hotel.

Arrived at the hotel at 11, a 5 hour drive. That includes hitting I295 Northbound closure for 10? minutes after an accident. There was a truck in the median, it didn't look too good; but not quite good enough to close all 3 or 4 NB lanes. The DOT must have done their job. 

Christine started to get car fever about 4 hours into the drive, she was getting loopy and silly (and at times annoying). But she was making me smile & laugh for the most part, so it was entertaining.

How else did we entertain ourselves on the drive? The usual way-

- I kept us in one piece the drive.

- Played a few rounds of the ABC game (rules will be explained in a later post).

- Saw a bunch of state plates (list will be posted later).

- Admired the moon when it broke through the clouds.

- Christine started getting silly from car fever:

- Tried to name all 150 original Pokemon. Sadly, we had probably 1/3 or 1/2 named.

- Making random, silly noises.

- Laughing at jokes that shouldn't have been funny.

Whats the plan for today in DC?

- Wake up and get some free continental breakfast

- Take the Metro to the Smithsonian stop, then hit up the National Mall (monuments for the most part) and the Tidal basin (more monuments).

- Hope the Cherry Blossoms are still in bloom.

- Watch the fireworks at the Tidal basin tonight at 8:30!

All the while, I get to play with my new camera :D

practically christmas morning

My camera was scheduled to arrive at work today. I knew it last night, and was looking forward to it all day. Then I got into work, and was busy (read: distracted from other thoughts); I was surprised for a second when I was handed the package. It didn't last long though.

The problem was this was at 11am. I didn't get out of work until at least 6:30, so it stayed in its box until then. But as soon as I got home, it was the first thing I opened. Reading the manual as the battery charged (2 hours? I have to wait because they don't ship fully charged batteries?!?), learning what it can do. I put the lens cap on, the shoulder strap, put in one of the SD cards I bought for it.

I was watching TV with Christine, halfway watching the green light on the charger, just waiting for it to turn off. I'd watch that light as much as the TV show that was on. It was off 10 seconds before I got up and put it in the camera. It worked!

I played with settings, set the time right, took test pictures/movies (yay HD movies!), enjoyed it in general. It gets old taking pictures of stuff in the house at 10pm at night. Yet another reason to look forward to going to DC, I can really test this puppy out!

And now, time to register it.

three more days

And I get to drive to DC! Its supposed to rain Friday and Saturday, but hopefully not too much. Seeing the mall and all the monuments is always neat.

And my camera, a FZ28, should arrive to work tomorrow. The last camera I bought was a graduation present to myself from college, almost 5 years ago. I haven't used it lately because its so slow/unresponsive/annoying. Playing with Christine's camera has spoiled me.

Spring Cleaning pt 2

Its been rainy/cloudy the past few days (seems like a week at least), but today it cleared up around noon and it was a gorgeous day.

I saw it from my office's window, I could tell. Christine even called me to tell me how nice it was!

So I got home, and saw here cleaning her car. The car she's been meaning to clean for a year or so probably. She was windexing/cleaning out the trunk/everything, so I decided to clean mine as well. All the windows (even the sunroof!) are cleaned and rainx'd; a week before the drive to DC :D

Spring cleaning pt 1

The carport has been a mess. There was some broken plant pots, a grill without its cover, an exercise machine waiting to be pulled inside, etc. Nevermind it hasn't gotten cleaned in at least a year, so all the leaves/dirt/etc has built up too.

But its clean now :D. It took me and Christine 6 hours to go through and pitch/keep, clean, organize, and put back. It was even raining, that makes cleaning things somewhat tricky.

Now to get that stuff to sell on craigslist, and the house will be 1 step closer to being clean!

Come on Easter...

And not for the religious significance.

We're going to DC for the weekend, hopefully the cherry blossoms will be in bloom with nice weather. I'm looking foward to driving up, Its been too long since the last good drive.

Plus it should be some good people watching :D

surprisingly productive weekend

It was decent weather, but a bit cold. Too much to take the canoe out on the water and enjoy it. So what did I do?

Saturday (the unproductive day):

- Got out of bed at ~1pm

- Watched some NCAA basketball/Dirty Jobs

- Nothing, nothing, nothing

- Played poker in the Senate Chambers at NCSU

Sunday:

- Out of bed maybe 11am

- Watched some NCAA basketball, emptied dishwasher

- Gave Kevin a bath

- Went for a walk with Christine at Yates Mill Pond Park

- Got rid of some big items via Craigslist

- Organized and cleaned 1/2 of the den.

- Did 3+ loads of laundry

So to recap:

- was social

- enjoyed the outdoors

- vegged

- bathed dog

- cleaned and emptied Den

- laundry

It was a good weekend :D

[/gloom]

Its been rainy and cloudy and cold for almost a week now. But today, the sun came out, finally. I was surprised to see it coming into work, I almost forgot what it looked like!

Now if I can get out of work early enough to enjoy the sun more often, that'd be nice. I got home and had a 15 minute walk with Christine and the dog when I got home. It was nice :)

long day

The last few times I've seen the sunrise was when I drove to the RDU airport to catch flights to Boston. Before that, I don't even remember the last time.

I saw one driving into work today. Daylight savings time can suck it in the morning, but is oh so nice in the evening. At least if you leave work before 7:45, past dusk.

At least it was a productive day.

Can you, canoe?

Nice weather is great. It means I can ride around with rolled down windows and take my canoe out on the lake!

Yesterday I went on Lake Raleigh, a small lake on Centennial Campus. I was surprised that the parking lot wasn't completely full, but there were only 1 or 2 spots. So I grabbed the spot and took down my canoe off the top of my car and got in the water. Note that this was the first time I had used my canoe with the new car, so the logistics weren't vetted; it wasn't pretty to watch just me load and unload the thing.

Once I was on the water, it was great. Paddled around the lake, saw all the ducks/pigeons/herons and even 2 swans (or large geese, not 100% sure really). Apparently some crud has been drifting into the lake, I saw 2 at-the-street type garbage cans and a basketball on the shore, and when I got to the shallows probably a hundred cans/bottles settled on the lake floor. From the lake, I could even see the top of the Raleigh skyline with the moon just over top. It was quite picturesque.

Today Christine joined me, and we went to Jordan Lake. A spot to the north end of the lake that my father and I used to fish at, so I knew it would a good place to launch and still be sheltered. It was a windy day, and I warned her that canoes aren't great on really windy lakes especially if there are motor boats. She didn't listen of course, imagine that.

We went with the wind to the north for awhile, darting in coves, circling a fish attractor buoy, and ran aground to stretch the legs. The way back was fun however. We darted across this part of the lake (again with the wind) and cove hopped. We started getting tired and it was getting late, so we started heading back. Well this was on the other side of the lake, and into the wind. There were waves pushing 1' from trough to crest, and Christine was in the front. She was bobbing up and down, and a few times the bow actually was under the crest of the wake she says. There were a few times I started getting nervous - but we had our safety gear so the worst that would happen was a swim in the cold lake and waterlogged cell phones.

When we got back and ran ashore to get to the car, all that water flowed towards the back where I was. There was much more than I had expected, easily a few gallons. Not enough to sink or anything, but enough to know she was getting soaked.

She'll listen to me about canoeing more now I bet. It was a fun day for the both of us, it was really nice to be out on the water on such a nice day.

yay nice weather

I love driving in nice weather. 70s is perfect; not too hot, not to cold. You can have your windows down, sunroof open and get just the right amount of chill. But still nice enough to wear just a t-shirt or shorts, and enjoy the outdoors.

Today was one of those days. Unfortunately I was stuck at work for most of the day. But the drive home, right around dusk, was nice. This weekend is supposed to be nice too, so its finally time to take out the canoe!

I hope it stays like this for awhile, because really don't like the Carolina muggy hot summers.

Oh, and the Alt Nation countdown debuted today! w00t!

Ask and I shall receive?

Driving home from work today (in the winter wonderland - in NC - in March - during NCSU's spring break?!?) I was listening to Alt Nation, per usual. Starting this Friday at 6pm, they're doing a countdown (I think its the top 16 songs this time?).

I need to bitch about things more often here, it seems to work!

Stupid Alt Nation, bring back a countdown!

I've been a Sirius subscriber since 2004. My dad bought a new car which came with a 2 year subscription. He didn't want it and wouldn't really use it, so he gave it to me. I used it (it comes in REALLY handy when on long road trips or if you want more of a variety in music to listen to) and have kept the subscription alive until a few months ago.  My clear favorite channel was Alt Nation, they play alternative rock music, and they're been good about playing newer music.

I bought a Vibe last September after my PT got totaled (rolling a car isn't as fun as it sounds). It had a built-in XM radio. This was after the merger was approved but before anything had been done about it. I started listening to the XM radio alternative to Alt Nation and was dealing - Lucy is what is was called. It was ok, but I wanted my Alt Nation back.

Last fall they merged the channels, and Alt Nation was on both Sirius and XM! But some of the merger was some programming was cut. They used to have a nice countdown of the top 21 requested songs. I'd use this to download the songs I liked, and could look up the list online. They don't have it anymore, so that source of "oh yeah, I like that song I need to download it" is now my memory.

My memory isn't so good about little stuff like that. Or bigger stuff sometimes too, especially when I'm driving in the car on autopilot.

Why'd she have to go and eat my pie?

Christine has a habit of making off-the-cuff parodies of songs involving pies or cookies. Its cute, almost adorable. She's good at it, she shows off her quick mind, sometimes I join in on the fun, and it makes us both laugh. Plus we feed off each other (pun intended) and go back and forth until one of us face palms.

The Foo Fighters are a good bad. They have plenty of catchy good songs. Some of their new songs were playing last summer when she and I were on our road trip out west. During that trip, the radio was playing and a new song was playing - a Foo Fighters song she or I hadn't heard before. She did this normally cute thing to the song. But it went horribly horribly wrong (if I wanted to ever hear the damn song again without thinking about pies or cookies).

Why'd you have to go and let it die? Why'd you have to go and eat my pie? I ate it all and now its mine, why'd you have to go and eat my pie?

I still think the wrong lyrics when I hear it.

Rain rain go away

Thursday, its nice out, 60s. Friday is even better, pushing 70. But then the rain comes in. And it'll rain all weekend. And there might be 4"+ inches of snow come Monday.

I like winter and the cold and all, but lets get some consistency here. I would like to enjoy walking around a lake or park for two weeks in a row without having to wear shorts one week, and a jacket and snow boots the next.

I still haven't taken the canoe out since last summer, I don't even know the best way to put it on my car yet :( 

NYC from afar

I finally saw NYC while flying to Boston today. Its neat to see the two separate skylines of the business district (where WTC is) and further inland. And houses/buildings as far as the eye can see; and I'm 33000 feet up when I say that.

I always thought the Statue of Liberty was closer to the ocean, not as far in the harbor as it is. Not as welcoming to immigrants as I always believed...

OK, its more than just Boston's roads

Holy crap they suck.

I'm pretty good when it comes to the US Interstate system. Been on them in several of the largest cities in the US (Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Boston, Miami, Dallas, ...), been on some of the most desolate stretches (historic US 66 in Arizona/Mexico, Nevada/Utah, Nebraska, ...), and places in between. I know the system:

- Odd #s run North/South

- Even #s run East/West

- Miles/Exits increment headed East/North

- Exits correlate with mile markers

- Rest areas near state lines usually have state official maps

OH WAIT. Not in New England apparently. I got on I-95 southbound and noticed it was exit 37. "Hey, that means I'm only 37 miles from Rhode Island, a state I haven't been to yet!". So I headed to RI, figuring it would be an hour or hour and a half round trip. I seems to be taking much longer than I figured it would, but don't really think about it; I'm behind the wheel. I see exit 13 but mile marker 31 but tell myself I'm just being dyslexic. I hit Rhode Island, see the first exit is 30. "Sweet, I can get to Connecticut in another half hour!".

Apparently, exit numbers don't correlate with miles in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. They're just a incremental count of exits. That 1 or 2 hour trip turned into 4 and a half. And Rhode Island's rest stop closes and locks its doors at 6pm. Not even a map for my travels! 

At least I still got to drive and see some more of the US. Providence was surprisingly impressive. The "Big Dig" in Boston means you drive underneath the city for ~5 miles, not so great to take in downtown. From corner to corner, it takes 40 minutes to pass through the smallest state in the union. And I'm back to bitch about it after ~200 miles.

Boston roads suck!

They do. And its not for a lack of maintainence as the roads are in good condition given the climate. Its because of the markings and signs (or lack thereof).

I flew into Boston again today and picked up my rental car. Its an orange Toyota Matrix, almost identical to my red Vibe, so I'm excited to drive it. Despite the fun car, I hit the common frustrations on my drive from the rental car lot:

- Unmarked lanes at stoplights. Are they right turn lanes? Left turn lanes? Straight only? Go ahead and guess.

- Unmarked lanes. This lane is about twice as wide as a regular lane, and there are cars either driving in the middle, or cars passing other cars both being in the lane. Will it dissapear? Is it a 'real' lane? Nevermind this is at the intersection of two major interstates.

- Lanes just ending. So those stoplights that have 2 unmarked lanes? On the otherside of the intersection, is one lane. Hope you're faster than the car in the other lane.

- Lane markings being faded away. This is understandable because of the snow/ice/plowings/repeat, but its still annoying. Especially when lanes are all sorts of sizes.

- Old people driving slow. Seriously, 10 mph on an entrance ramp to an interstate? Really?

Despite all this, its still fun to drive here. I only wish I could drive around more, I tend to work-work-work when I'm here (gives me more time Thursday night/Fridays).

Valentines Day happenings

Christine is great. She's not the type of girl who wants to be taken to a nice ritzy place for dinner, or dress up and make a whole show of it. What did we do?

Didn't get out of bed until 1 cuddling ( :devil: ) and putzed around the house for awhile. Got dressed and went to the mall to people watch, pick up a pair of her hemmed pants, and get some food. The people watching was good, I was surprised how many people were dressed up though. Its just the Crabtree Mall, nevermind it was Valentines day late afternoon-early evening. There weren't as many teenagers as I was expecting too, but several couples or groups of women. I got dragged into some of the 'smelly goods' stores, we had some bad-for-you american chinese food, got an Icee, and went to the candy store. Everything was overpriced, but they had candy Lego bricks. CANDY LEGO BRICKS! I have a wall build with them on my desk now...

After the mall, we stopped by the closing Circuit City and then went to the RDU observation deck. There were quite a few people (mostly couples no surprise) there. Later we drove and parked under the flightpath for one of the runways (where there was a no parking sign which we ignored) and waited probably 20+ minutes for a plane to fly overhead. Waynes World style, except the plane was higher up.

While we were waiting, we just talked - about things we didn't know about each other. "What did you do bad as a kid?" was the main question. Shoplifting, petty theft, little things for the most part; it was nice to have that kind of "I still don't fully know you" conversation on Valentines day.

Afterwards we started home, but were still hungry. She's recently (after 4 years, finally) acquired a taste for Carolina BBQ, so we went to Smithfields and got food. Our conversation continued until we were home. It was a good night, a good way to remember why I proposed to her.

Iowa and Beyond!

The summer road trip is planned. Starting with a trip to Pocahontas IA for a cousin's wedding, Christine and I head west to see Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone NP, Grand Tetons NP, and Glacier NP. The wedding is 7/10, and hopefully I'll have 2 weeks off of work after that.

It'll be 6k+ miles. Last trip was just around 7300 I think. I love BIG road trips - drive nonstop for a a day or two to get out there, then mosy around to see what you see. Putz around, see the sights, explore areas a majority of the people in this country haven't seen, and repeat. What could be better?

Hacky cough, begin!

I have allergies. They seem to always surface in fall and early spring. It starts with a mass of crap in my throat and it drains into my chest. After a few days, my head/nose/sinuses get stuffed up, and it too drains into my chest. Eventually, I'll feel better, but I'll have a cough. It lasts.

And lasts.

And lasts.

Last time, it was around for a month, only getting rid of it after 4 visits to doctors. I'm made fun of at work for this hacky cough that lasts forever.

We didn't go to Charleston this past weekend (long story). That at least meant I could watch all of the Superbowl, and maybe get some stuff done around the house. I noticed there was some water damage under a gutter by a motion sensor light that afternoon, and I started fixing it. That entailed getting up by the gutter to clean to seal where the source of the leak was. While I was up there, I should clean out the gutters right?

Well, if you haven't cleaned gutters before, if you don't clean them regularly they practically become soil on the bottom. And with soil and moisture comes mold/etc. Guess who is allergic to mold?

I'll have the cough by next Sunday. It'll be March by the time it's gone too.

I drive in two days!

I'm stuck in Boston again, piddling away with the work they have me do. The things mainly on my mind are

- I want to be home; apparently it was a beautiful day in Raleigh today, and it would have been nice to spend some of it with Christine

- I want the house clean; after the office cleanup, some tidying and the den is the last frequently used messy room

- I am looking forward to driving to Charleston (4-5 hour drive).

Its only been 4 weeks really since my last good drive (drove from Raleigh to Chicago and back for Christmas, then to Hiddenite, NC to see Elise) but I'm itchin' for another one. I love being behind the wheel of my car, driving for hours and only stopping when the car needs a fillup. It should be nice weather between Raleigh and Charleston too, and its warmer there. I'm jonesin bad.

Spring cleaning in winter

The home office has been a mess for a while now. Being home during the snow the other day, I also realized its not at all productive. Being that I'll be traveling for work (and can thus work from home on Fridays), it becoming productive would be VERY nice.

So 2 nights ago Christine and I stripped shelves and moved the desks. Last night we put back the shelves and started going through crap. Tonite we finally got crap sorted and computers/nerdy stuff is set back up. I've gone through my crap (for the most part), pitching/recycling/putting on craigslist. Christine is doing the same, but her being the packrat, there is more to get rid of.

Its amazing the stuff you keep after just a few years, just to recycle it or go resell it for $5. On the bright side, the room feels bigger, will be more productive, and is cleaner!

Happy SNOBAMA day

So 8 and 4 years ago, I got dissapointing birthday presents. Today's was much better, and hopefully will prove to be so. I was born on January 20th (on a cold day if you ask my parents), so every 4 years, I get an inauguration.

Today had the added benefit of getting a 3"+ snowfall. In Raleigh, thats a once every few years or so event. People can't drive in snow worth crap around here, and the roads aren't handled as well as up north, so I stayed home and worked. Because of this, I was able to watch the inauguration, Obama's speech, and even some of the parade. I got to pelt Christine with snowballs and watch the snow accumulate on Kevin's fur too. 

I get to make up some of that missed work time over the week, but it was well worth it :)

Traveling home

One of the best things about traveling for work is the day you come home.

You're eager to wake up. You aren't in the office as long because of the traveling. You get to people watch at the airport. The flight home always feels faster than the flight away. You look forward to seeing loved ones and know you'll see them soon. The landing means you're home. Seeing your car in the parking lot reminds you how much you like it. Driving on home roads means you'll be at home soon. Passing that last light is being on the home stretch. Seeing your house still standing, pulling into the driveway, walking to the door, all leads up to

Walking in, kissing your fiancee, making out like two high schoolers. Being home :)

Or maybe this all is just me.

A cold and snowy Boston day

Flew into Boston this morning (boy are my arms tired!) to see the ending of a snowshower and the remains of a 50+ car pileup on I-93. There must have been 5-10 cars smashed/mangled/wrecked on the shoulder southbound (we were heading northbound) waiting for tow trucks. Apparently, you don't get used to driving in the snow up here, you get used to dealing with the carnage.

For those of you out there who haven't traveled for work, its kinda crazy. The flights must be at least 75% business travelers. All of them need rental cars, hotel rooms, and food. The way money is spent still surprises me, there must be better/more effecient ways to spend money than this waste. 

Being away from home from 4 days a week gets old quick. Some can deal with it, especially the bachelors or those with just a girlfriend. I miss Christine and my dog. 

Testing post from my cellphone. Look out world, I'm mobile.

Hello World!

blogger.post("Hello World!");

I've been wanting to start one of these, but just haven't gotten around to it until now. What made me?

I was raking the pine needles and leaves in my front yard (there are two natural areas with plenty of trees) while listening to music.  I've been traveling for work a lot lately, only having the weekends at home doesn't lead to housework getting done. Needless to say, there was a lot to rake. Kevin (the dog) was tied up outside getting in the way occasionally.  Reflecting on the day so far (sleeping in with Christine, having a nice afternoon to myself) made me realize how good life could be. 

I'm not usually a gloater or bragger, but what else is a blog good for?