Random Access

Now that I’ve got this up and running again, time to recap Friday.

• Work. Half day.
• Went to lunch at Rasputin (Russian cuisine) with Jess, Julia and Rick.
• Off to LS Micro to get a new HD for the laptop. The one in it crashed (AGAIN) while I was on vacation. When I called to find out about getting it repaired (AGAIN), they said that it would be $150, just for the diagnostic, plus then the cost of parts and labor to replace it. Doing it myself for less than the diagnostic cost seems the better option… and I get instant gratification on two fronts:
  • I’ll know that I did it myself.
  • I don’t have to wait for it to ship there, get repaired and get sent back.
• Went to the comic shop.
• Home.
• Jess went to work and I went downtown with Katherine, Land and Bob. We soaked up a little more of the Olympic atmosphere. And, I had the best part of my Olympic experience there. More on that below.
• Came home.

I decided to join K,L, and B downtown on a lark. I was originally planning on just having a quiet evening of drawing at Borders and coming home. That would have been a mistake. After finding a place to park, made easier by parking at Adrian’s and asking him to drop me off downtown, we met up and went to Bud World. First stop: Starbucks’®. It wasn’t blood-chillingly cold, but it is Salt Lake City in mid-winter. And there’s nothing wrong with having a nice Cafè Mocha to keep the chill at bay. That’s also where we had our Olympic experience…

We met Dr. Tenley Albright. She was the first American woman to win the Figure Skating gold medal (1956 Winter Games). We met her because Land was asking her about an Olympic program that she had; she showed it to him and introduced herself. She was a very gracious woman. She was also kind enough to take pictures with us and talk with us for a while. I even managed to get her autograph; unfortunately, the only thing that I had available to sign was my Palm Pilot… but she signed it. Thank Heaven for drawing programs!

For more information on Dr. Albright, see the following:

• Olympic Museum Lausanne
• Hall of Sports
• Academy of Achievement
• Hickock Sports

I’ve gotten to meet/see some of the Olympians from the 2002 Games, while doing Olympic postmark cancelations, but this was much more memorable and impressive: How often do you get to meet the first American Gold Medalist in a given event? Impressive, indeed.

Pictures of the evening can be seen here.

Peace.

My puter decided to be a bit difficult, so I lost my post.
I’ll redo it after I get some sleep.

Peace.

Let’s see… the past two days, encapsulated:

• Wednesday:
  • Work.
  • Trip to CompUSAir for a new scanner.
  • Trip to the hospital with Land because he was having chest pains. Turned out to be nothing serious, but better safe than sorry.
  • Home.
• Thursday:
  • Worked at Crossroads Mall again, doing Olympic cancelations. Fun, again. I enjoy working there because the time passes VERY quickly and you get to meet and TALK WITH people. And, for the most part, they are very pleasant and easy to get along with.
  • Came home.

Like I said,”encapsulated.” All that lies ahead is to figure out how long I am going to work tomorrow/today…

Peace.

Tired.
Long day.
Bed.
Post later.

Peace.

First day back at w0rk.

• It was a slow day, volume-wise. We keyed, we went idle, we moved… key, idle, move… repeat…
• Julia and I played “What Can You Make From This Squiggle” during the idle time.
• Put in a full eight, and then…
• Came home.

Haven’t really done much since getting here… and I am juuust fine with that. I talked to Mom on AIM for a bit. She was just getting in from her chorus’ concert; she said that it went well. She also was in a bit of a hurry: Her grades for the quarter are due in the morning.

One day down, three to go… and one of those is back at Crossroads doing cancelations (translation: Easy Day). I think that I can handle that.

Peace.

“Back in the USSR“….umm, “Utah.”

• Woke up, rather abruptly, when Mom burst into my room to confirm when we had to head to the airport. She did this sometime shortly after 07:00. *GAH* Pop came in sometime shortly thereafter to basically ask the same thing. “There’s no need to argue: Parents just don’t understand…”
• Fell back asleep and woke up a little before 10:00.
• Finished packing and waited for Mom to get back home.
• Drove to Charlotte… Hopped out at the airport… Said ‘bye’ to Mom… Got boarding passes and screened and was ready to go. Well, I was ready after stopping in the Starbucks for a Cafè Mocha.
• Flew to St. Louis. Called my aunt who lives there; I haven’t talked to her in a month of Sundays, so she was a little surprised.
• Flew to SLC. Went to dinner with Jess and then home.

I don’t think that you’re supposed to be tired AFTER a vacation, but I am. Maybe that’s just the sign of a good vacation. Back to the grind tomorning. Yay. But, I get to do cancelations again on Thursday, so there will be a little variety to the week.

Time to do an in-depth inner eyelid study.

Peace.

Sunday, in a nutshell:

• Woke up to a call from Peter, Pre-Salt Lake coworker/roommate.
• Church.
• Lunch with Mom, Kris and a friend of hers, and friends of Mom’s from church.
• Shopping with Mom and Kris… who are apparently going through the “growing pains” part of their relationship. I remember going through that and I think that I was about Kris’ age. Fun.
• Visited my friend Dave’s parents.
• It snowed. I leave SLC to get away from the snow and the hoopla and it snows here. Unglaublich!
• Visited Dave and his friend Cindy.
• Dinner with Christine, Don, Thomas and Sheila (Christine’s sister).
• Back to C-D-T’s house for a bit.
• Home… repacked, showered and almost set to go tomorning.

I think that I want to say more about the day, but it can wait until after I get back to SLC.

You’d think that a week would be enough time to do just about everything that I wanted. No such luck, but there is no way that I am going to complain – I had a great time while I was here. I guess that Ms. Dorothy Gale was correct when she said “There’s no place like home…” But, since I don’t want to even ponder what I’d look like in ruby slippers, I’ll just call it a night.

Peace.

I think that I will rename “Saturday” to “What-A-Day.”

• Slept until 11:30 EST. This was good because I needed the sleep. This was bad because I had planned on being ready to hit the road around 12:00. Oh well, “the best made plans of mice and men…”
• Tried to track down my God-sister, Tammy; we had made semi-plans to see each other before I headed back. She would have KILLED me if I’d come to Baltimore and didn’t see her. Went to her mom’s house, she wasn’t there, but her new (to me) baby, Kirsten, was there. Adorable. Sleeping, but adorable. From there, I went to where they thought she was… she wasn’t there. So, I went back to Dad’s to finish packing. And my phone rings. *sigh* So… we met for all of :05 in the parking lot of one of the Metro stations. She’s worth it. And, Kirsten was awake by this time. VERRA CUTE.
• Back home, threw the last things in the car, got pics of the family-unit, said my goodbyes and hit the road!
• Ran into a traffic snafu in Ellicott City. Yay. I took a detour, which everyone else and his/her respective mother, dog and cat also decided to take.
• Stopped at Friendly’s for a bit of frozen dairy goodness. Apparently, I wasn’t explicit in my request, because my ice cream came in a cup… which makes it a wee bit difficult to drive and eat simultaneously. But, the nice young lady at the counter gave me a cone, too, so I sat in the car and ate some of the ice cream and then packed a reasonable amount into the cone.
• Finally managed to get in touch with Bret. He was on the other side of D.C. from where I was headed, so seeing him this trip wasn’t an option. BAH! We had a good talk, though.
• Stopped at the Washington Temple (LDS) and took some pics; I may not be LDS, but I appreciate good architecture. I remember riding/driving past it at night, when it’s lit up… it looks like a castle out of a fairy tale. Quite impressive.
• Drove. And drove. And drove. (Note to : No problems finding diesel this time.)
• Stopped at the DQ in Lynchburg for a dipped cone and a Mr. Misty.
• Drove. And drove. And drove.
• Got to Mom’s. Sprawled on the bed for a few before heading out to meet Theo. We went for a late bite to eat, then back to his place so I could install a new modem for him.
• Came home.

And I am now officially tired. Which should make sleep both an easy to find and a welcome surrender.

More tomorrow.

Peace.

So much that I wanted to do, so little time…

• Woke up around 13:something and slowly became socially presentable.
• Adam, my brother, and I went to visit our old babysitter; it would be closer to say that she’s more an extended family member.
• Stopped at B&N for some caffeinated mocha goodness.
• Went by what used to be Geppi’s Comic Shoppe. No clue where they relocated and no time to check.
• Got a call from Barbara, one of my stepsisters. She is hip-deep in work and said that she wouldn’t get a chance to meet me this go-round. *BAH* When she started to tell me what she is working on, it made sense. LOTS of it. So, we talked about her taking a long weekend in the next couple of months and coming to the Land Behind the Zion Curtain. She seemed to like that idea.
• Came home, picked up Grandma and went to… *deep breath*… IKEA.
  ::: genuflect :::Grandma needed a desk for her computer, and Adam and I provided the “yea”/”nay” opinions and the muscle to get it into the car.

• Came home and then headed to the Inner Harbor. Adam and I were going to go to the Hard Rock Cafe, but there was a live band playing and I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get in… so we went to ESPNZone, instead; it was his first time there. Dinner was pretty good.
• Walked around Harborplace and took a few pics.
• Drove up to Federal Hill and did the same.
• Came home.

Tomorrow, I have to catch up with a couple of people and say a fast “hi/bye” before trekking back to the Tarheel State. This leg of the trip is putting a whole new spin on the phrase “No rest for the wicked.” But, it’s been good, so I can’t complain too much.

Peace.

If anyone has ideas of something to do tonight, please let me know. It’s been so long since I’ve spent a Friday night in Baltimore that I’ve forgotten. *sigh* That’s not a good sign.

Or, if no one else has anything planned and wants to create trouble find something to do, that’s an equally acceptable option.

Let me start by saying that I was at least :30 minutes off in my original assessment of ‘when’ I was leaving NC today. I got caught up watching “The Weakest Link,” the daytime version. The host, whose name I didn’t catch, is not nearly as annoying/abrasive as his prime-time counterpart. In fact, he’s rather amusing. So I wound up shaving and running back to the bedroom to find out “Who is the Weakest Link?!”

I was also delayed, rather pleasantly, because I stopped to say “hi” to one of my aunts before hitting the road. I hadn’t seen her in a longer time than I’d care to admit, so that extra time wasn’t a bad thing.

Finally got underway and made pretty good time… with one minor problem. I normally stop in either Lynchburg or Richmond, VA – depending on which route I take – for ice cream (Lynchburg: Dairy Queen; Richmond: Friendly’s)and to fill up the car. What can I say, I’m a creature of habit when it comes to that. The ice cream was no problem; finding gas (diesel) was.

• The first station: there was apparently NO attendant and there was no “pay-at-the-pump” option. *sigh*
• There did not seem to be diesel pumps at the two stations that were nearby. *sigh*
• At the last station that I tried… their tanker of diesel hadn’t come in, so they were as bare as Mother Hubbard’s cupboard.

::: braincramp :::
Fortunately, the car gets good gas mileage, so I decided to wait until I got to Fredericksburg to fill up. Yet another adventure ensued…

• Oddly, none of the stations near the off-ramp seemed to have diesel.
• I went in search of a station that did… I found one about 2 miles up the road. However, you had to have a certain type of card to access the pumps and the attendant “wasn’t able” to just turn them on. *GRRR*
• So, I went across the street to a station that not only HAD a diesel pump, but it was pay-at-the-pump! And, there was no special card, dance or incantation necessary to use it! Hallelujah!

After filling up, I got back on the interstate and a couple of hours – and an intentional detour through part of downtown – later, I was home.

When I lived here, I had, at one time or another, used all but one of the bedrooms for my room. And all of them, were outranked by the basement; I had it set up like a mini-apartment. It was great. I grew up. I got older, moved out and time passed. My grandmother has moved here and Dad has had the entire basement remodeled. It. Looks. Amazing. I am jealous. For the first few minutes, all I could say was “Wow.”

The only apparent damper to things is that I can’t get the modem on the laptop to play nicely. Nothing that a complete system restore shouldn’t solve when I get back behind to Utah.

The family-unit seems to be doing well. They talked to Rana yestermorn; it was her birthday. She is enjoying her time in the Ukraine and things are going well. She will most likely come home for a few weeks at Christmas. It will be interesting to hear what she has to say about her experience.

Well, off to wander around some other corners of cyberspace for a bit and then…. sleep time!

Peace.

I am about 0:45 from hitting the road. Conditions outside look good: Sunny and clear with a light wind.

Sleep was good, but broken. But, again, one of the nice things about not having to worry about a schedule this week is that my time is my own.

And, “Happy Valentine’s Day” to all. Something to consider: This isn’t just a “Hallmark holiday,” as a lot of people tend to think of it. If you don’t have a special or significant other, call or get together with a family member or good friend… even if it’s just to say “hi.” Both of you may just feel a bit better because of it.

I’d better get moving before the voices in my head start singing “Eastbound and Down” again.

Peace.

Wednesday.
I was planning on hitting the road for Baltimore today, but a minor glitch with the car I was planning to take set that plan on the back-burner for a day. I can handle that. Besides, the rest of the day more than made up for it.

• Cleaned out the car and checked on the problem… it seems to be fixed now.
• Talked to Kristen, my kid sister, and made plans to meet for dinner. She said that she’d get back to me after an exam and her last class of the day. She then said that it might be a little later than that – she wanted to have her finget looked at in the Infirmary. She hurt it last night and it was still achy and swollen.
• Mom came home, briefly. She had a rehearsal for a concert that her students are giving at one of the local colleges.
• Kris called and said that she had broken her finger, possibly in two places. But, she was her typical upbeat-sounding self. We finalized the dinner plans.
• My stepfather came home. I told him of Kris and my dinner plans and invited him to join us; Mom couldn’t go because of the aforementioned rehearsal. He said that he’d probably meet us there.
• Went to Greensboro and had dinner with Kris. It has been a LONG time since the two of us have done anything together like this. And, it was amazing to see how mature she has become… not that she was a “bratty” kid, but as the older brother, I can be biased about her if I so choose. I had also forgotten how funny she is; her sense of humor can be as dry as my own and her sense of timing is perfect. We were at the restaurant for nearly two hours. I am very proud of the young woman that Kris has become. Theo called, shortly after Kris and I had been seated, so I invited him to join us. He hadn’t seen Kris since he and I had roomed together, 3-1/2 years ago; he was shocked at how much she had grown and grown-up. Pop showed up shortly thereafter, but couldn’t stay… he had to get to a store before it closed. He came back. I even got to show him a few tricks about his new Palm Pilot®. As much as I might bitch and moan about “I travelled 2000 miles to come home and all I do is Tech Support for the family,” it’s all bark/no bite. All-in-all, it was a great dinner.
• Stopped at Theo’s, again, because I left a CD that I needed there. We sat and talked… and watched Charlie’s Angels. It was my first time seeing it. Theo made the observation that it was a movie to be enjoyed for what it was: “Saturday Morning fare.” He was right. When I put myself into that mindset, suspension of disbelief came easily. It was a “fun” movie.
• Called Jess on the way home to wish her “Happy Valentine’s Day.” It was after 00:00 here, so it was V-Day for me, at least. While talking to her, I remembered that I was out of saline solution and sleeping in my contacts was not an option that I wanted to exercise, so…
• I went to one of the grocery stores to pick up a bottle of Bausch & Lomb’s best. They were closed. *grr* So, I went just down the street to another grocery store. They were closed, too.
  ::: braincramp :::
  It was looking more and more as though I would be sleeping in my lenses, after all. I decided to go across town to check another store. Probably the ONLY benefit of the fact that my folks live in a small town is this: Going across town does not take long. This store was open. Hallelujah! The purchase made, I…

• Came home.

I should most likely be in bed, as I have 5-1/2 hours of driving in my immediate future. *shrug* Oh, well. I won’t leave until I’m rested, so it all balances out. If all goes according to plan (“…and the creek don’t rise…”), my next post will be from “Charm City,” itself: Baltimore.

“Good night, Mr. and Mrs. (and Ms.) America and all the ships at sea.”

Peace.

Have I mentioned that I am enjoying the bloody Hell out of this vacation yet? I am. It’s just what the doctor ordered. Of course I didn’t see a doctor to plan my vacation; that would be completely silly. Besides, everyone knows that if you need help planning a vacation, you see a grocery store clerk!

Tuesday’s highlights:

• Stopped at Mom’s school to say “hi” to her and a couple of my old teachers.
• Stopped by another school to talk with Mr. Gorham, my 5th grade teacher; he’s now the principal at a different school. We talked for about an hour (give or take a bit).
• Came home and hung out with Mom for a while.
• Went to Best Buy.
  ::: genuflect :::
  “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” I believe is the saying. And, unlike ‘s troubles with the store, I [heart] Best Buy… and as there aren’t any in Utah (yet), I have to get my fix whenever I come home. Same rules apply for IKEA.
  ::: genuflect :::
  Of course, Circuit City came dangerously close to getting shitlisted this past Christmas. But since things were resolved favorably, I can shop there in good conscience.

• Visited Christine, Don and Thomas… and Brandy, the Wonder Pup. This was the first time that I have seen Thomas, other than in emailed pictures. He’s 8 months old now; he was born just after I was here last year. And I don’t know WHAT they are feeding him (actually, I do… but I am trying not to think about that), but he’s BIG! Not “chubby baby” big. And he is a-ducking-forable! It was good to hang out with Don and Christine; we’re planning on going out to dinner or some such thing this weekend. I look forward to that.

And, in case some of you came in a little late, there WILL be a quiz at the beginning of the next class I will reiterate: This vacation is just what I needed. Well, off to chat up a few friends back on Outpost Colony: Utah and then off to The Dreaming.

Peace.

For Meg and Carey:
Here’s another book recommendation (like you wanted/needed another one from me).

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, by Richard Bach. Your local B&N or Borders or other favorite bookstore should have it in stock. It is a short book and is written in the same vein as The Way of the Peaceful Warrior. I think that you’ll like it.

And for anyone else who reads this message, feel free to pick up either of the aforementioned books, too.

Peace.