Christmas time

What does Christmas on Catalina mean? I think the word that best describes it is 'mud'.

Yes, we're into the rainy season, and with every couple inches of rain, a new mud texture is discovered. First, as the dust of summer is first moistened, it turns into an unbelievably sticky clay-like mud that cakes on to shoes until they are the size of dinner platters and weigh a (figurative) ton. Tires pick up the top inch of the road surface and fling it all about, tearing up the roads. Then as more rain falls, everything seems to liquify. Any slightly dirty surface (ie all surfaces) become covered with a slime-like mud that is very slippery. The roads (in unpredictable places) turn into 4-6 inches of muck making driving quite treacherous (since we're driving on the edge of a cliff). The kids who go to school in Avalon get the day off because the interior roads become impassable. You can see the muddy streams flowing down every crevice of every hill. They don't have gutters on the houses. Rain streams down windows and drenches you as soon as you open the door. Finally the rain stops, and the parched ground has a chance to drink in all remaining moisture. After about a day, there are no puddles to be found. The dirt is gelatinous with its retained water making walking treacherous. Soon it returns to the sticky clay consistency, and then a sunny day will bake it back into the hard soil from which next year's dust will be made. Ah, the circle of life...

"But what of the decorations?", I hear you ask. (I have good ears.) The Island Company (which runs the town of Two Harbors) organized a shipment of very nice trees to the island, however, most of our decorations (and all our tree ornaments) remain in storage on the mainland. We scrounged some decorations from friends and managed to make a pretty festive tree. The Things were so excited that they had to take some ornaments ('elements' as Thing 2 calls them) and re-decorate the tree. Not much in the way of exterior lights for us. Some houses have quite a few, but what with it being the rainy season and all, I'm worried about that whole mixing water and electricity thing. Sweetie made sugar cookies the other day, and we decorated them. Again, the Things had a blast. Some cookies you can just barely see beneath the avalanche of sprinkles atop them.

So it's looking like it will be a Merry Christmas. We will be on the island for the Big Day, then travel to the east coast for New Year's (and to complete the sale of our house) (knock wood).

So Merry Christmas to all of you out there (unless you're a Happy Hannukkah or Sensational Solstice type of person) and Happy New Year, too.

Travels

We had a very nice visit with extended family over Thanksgiving down in Escandido. Let me tell you how NOT to get there the day before Thanksgiving. Do NOT take the 91 to 15. This is a big mistake. At one point I saw a sign saying 'Cororna 15mi' and I thought to myself "Gee, at this speed we'll be to Corona in two hours!". I optimistically/naively think that the 5 will be a much better choice next year.

We eventually got where we were going. We stayed in a hotel that had a heated outdoor pool. The Things had to go swimming, naturally. The air temperature was less than 60, but we went swimming, darnit. Brrrrr! Good thing there was a hot tub to warm up in before we went back to the room. The next morning, we had to go swimming again. This served two purposes: it got the Things to stop asking when we were going swimming, and it tired them out so they wouldn't be too bouncy with the excitement of the day. Thing 2 actually had to take a nap in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. We were dining with friends of my Uncle and Aunt. They were very nice and served an excellent dinner. There neighborhood was close to where the fires were in October, so they had some interesting and hair-raising stories to tell.

Friday we had planned to do something fun like the Wild Animal Park or Legoland, but everyone was tired and the weather wasn't that nice, so we decided to drive back to LA and go to the Natural History Museum. That was really cool. They have great diorama's displaying their large mammals and the Treasures from the Vault exhibit was great. Saturday was errands and a movie, and then it was back to the island.

A week later, Sweetie and I were back to the mainland. We had to take a ferry from Avalon, so the first part of the trip was a drive across the island. The ferry ride over was smooth as glass, which should have alerted up to bad things ahead. The next day it rained (in LA!), which made our drive downtown that much more interesting (it's sort of like when it snows in North Carolina). We were supposed to go back to the island Friday night, but decided to wait until Saturday. This turned out to be a mistake. As the ferry left the dock, the captain said something about "it's kind of bumpy out there today". And it was. I would say the swells were around 6-8 feet. The boat would hit them and the spray would go 20-30 feet in the air. At one point I think the boat went airborne. Many passengers were getting seasick. I just closed my eyes and thought about work. We finally got to Avalon. I got off there; Sweetie was going to take the ferry over to Two Harbors. So I get to the truck to discover that Sweetie still had the keys! Fortunately, some friends of ours needed groceries, so there were willing to drive the keys across the island to me, otherwise I'm not sure what I would've done. Finally, I got home. It was an exhausting couple of days. The Things were very happy to see us.

Next post: The Christmas Season

Sorry for the delay

You may have noticed a distinct lack of posting for the last month or so. Is it because we've been having so much fun we just haven't had time to post? Is it because we're so desperately unhappy that we can't bear to rehash our misery in blog form? Did I break all my fingers in a bizarre kayaking accident?

No, we just lost our internet connection at the house. We use a University wireless network, and the access point closest to us stopped working. So now we're waiting for ITS to come out and fix it. They've been here twice already, but they have fallen short on fixing it. I do have a few posts saved up that I will upload soon. (I thought I had them on my thumb drive, but apparently not...)

Until then, a funny moment with Thing2:

Thing2, playing with a milk tanker truck
"Mom, this is the cow truck"
Puzzled expression on his face.
"How do they get the cows in there?"

Rain

On Friday we had the first actual rainfall since we moved here. I awoke at about 5:30 am to the now-unfamiliar sound of rain beating down. There were several showers that day. I heard on the radio that LA received it's first rain in 150 days; for the island it may have been longer.

If you've ever wondered how quickly dust turns to mud, I am now an expert. The water soaks into the first inch or so of dust before it starts to run off. That top layer turns into a clay-like substance, which sticks to any tire- or shoe-like substance that it touches. Lugged soles or tires are pretty much worthless after about 20 seconds; after that you have slick mud caked on what is supposed to be giving you traction. I heard that we got about 1/2 inch of rain that day. It seemed like more than that to me, especially as I was shifting the truck into 4-wheel drive for the trip over to the lab.

Amusing aside: I used to laugh at the Marylanders when school would be canceled when 1/4 inch of snow fell. Sometimes they'd cancel school on the threat of snow. Well, on Friday they canceled a field trip from the LRS to Avalon on the THREAT of RAIN! Granted the rain did actually appear, and I wouldn't have wanted them to go on the slick roads, but still I found it funny.

So things appear greener here right now, although I can't tell if that's because things are growing or just that the dust has been washed off.


Speaking of dust, here is a picture of the back of our truck prior to the rain, just to show you how dusty things get around here. It seems like we'd do better to have windshield brushes rather than wipers.

One last note: We got our satellite TV hooked up. A nice man (who apparently spent 20 years as a professional break-dancer) came out on the ferry and was able to set up our satellite dish in between the morning and afternoon rain showers on Friday. I watched several football games (Go Trojans!), one futbol game (Spanish league!), and two soccer games (Man City v Fulham, and the unfortunate ManU/Chelsea affair) over the weekend, and tonight I even got to watch the Daily Show for the first time since July! One benefit to West Coast living is that the Daily Show is on at 10pm, leaving you an hour to blog. (It's also on at 8pm, but the kids are still running around at that point.) I guess I have mixed feelings about it, but the mix is heavily on the 'thank goodness' side.

Summer Ends / Autumn Begins

School has begun. It seems late, but then maybe that's because southern California doesn't have to build in snow days, so they can start later and save on air conditioning bills (not that that's a concern out here on the island).

We had a clean-up day at the Little Red Schoolhouse (LRS) a week ago to pick up trash, fix up gardens, and generally spruce up the place. The building was just painted, too. It turns out this is the 20th anniversary of the LRS, so they're doing an extra special sprucing up this year. We also had a Welcome cook-out for the new teacher (we'll call her Ms Frizzle in honor of the Magic Schoolbus series). She seems very nice and very together. She has 20 years experience and knows the island and its issues. There is a great sense of community amongst the school parents and the various people who volunteer their time at the school (there's a couple who comes to teach music, and another who donates school supplies each year, for instance). It was nice to meet all of them while the kids played together.

The first week (well, three days) of school went pretty well. The first day, Ms Frizzle had the kids gather on the steps in front of all the parents and sing a special LRS song. Then the bell was rung (yes, there's a bell in the little bell house on top!) and in the kids went. Thing1 didn't exactly stay out of trouble, but we haven't received a note home yet. Most of this first week seems to be Ms Frizzle trying to figure out what the kids know so she can plan curriculum for the kids. After school, many of the kids go to a house across the courtyard for after-care, so Thing1 plays with them (after doing his homework, of course). Thing2 is spending his days at home with Sweetie, and has been very excited to see Thing1 when he gets home.

Another sure sign of autumn is the decreased activity in the harbor. Which means a slowing down of the tourist activity in town, which means, well, here's an example. Last week (Labor Day weekend) we decided to get a pizza for dinner from the snack bar on Friday night. So I wandered down and (eventually) got one and we enjoyed it, so we thought we'd try that again this week. I walked down to the snack bar at 5:30 to find it closed. Hrm. I looked around for a sign showing their current hours, only to be disappointed. Hrm. Life in a small tourist town. Looks like it's frozen pizzas until Memorial Day.

We now have a planned date for moving our stuff. I'm not exactly sure when it will arrive here, but we know when it will leave Maryland. The house still hasn't sold, but we occasionally have second showings, so maybe someday soon.

Poopcorn

A day late, but, as promised, here is the tale of poopcorn.

We were camping in Yellowstone, as you may remember from a previous post. After dinner we started a campfire, as did our neighbors. We were enjoying the fire, Thing 2 had us dance around singing a silly song, we sang some real campfire songs, and we made s'mores. [On a side note, eating s'mores does not combine neatly with having a mustache].

Our neighbors had no marshmallows, but did make JiffyPop over their campfire. Thing1 thought this was really cool and asked if we could make popcorn the next night. So the next day we stopped by the store and picked up some JiffyPop. But this story isn't titled 'Popcorn', now is it?

One can only drive by so many bison before the story of the pioneers using buffalo chips as fuel for their fires is mentioned by one (or both) know-it-all parents. The Things were amused and intrigued by this idea of burning poop, so we hit upon the idea of 'poopcorn' - cooking our popcorn over a buffalo chip fire.

After returning to camp, I went on a chip hunt. With the number of bison around, and their prodigious pooping ability, it did not take long to find a well-aged patty. After supper, we built a campfire, and when we decided the time was ripe (ha ha), on went the chip.

How does a buffalo chip burn? Not as well as the bone-dry lodgepole pine branches we had been using in the fire, but a cheery yellow flame licked (ugh) around the edges of the chip. And while there was a slight odor, it wasn't any worse than regular wood smoke.

The unburned center of the chip blocked most of the heat, so we waited until it was mostly consumed (yeck) before starting our JiffyPop.

The experiment was a success. We enjoyed delicious poopcorn, just as the pioneers must have 125 years ago.


And we got a funny story out of it, too.

Fighting boredom

This is rather pathetic, and a real commentary on the modern life in which we (in particular - I don't wish to cast aspersions on others) have ensconced ourselves, but one thing we struggle with is boredom, particularly in the evenings after the kids have been put to bed. We are, of course, used to having a TV about. This has stunted our ability to self-entertain. We are used to living in bedroom community suburbia, so we are not used to inviting people over to our house for things like card games or conversation. Initially, we read books - we had brought some with us, and there is a stash at WMSC that various people have left behind (a common practice at field stations) - but eventually we ran low, and then out, of new reading material. Having not moved our household goods yet, we don't have our full library here, which doesn't help. We have also been watching DVDs on my laptop, but again, we've played out the library we brought with us pretty well by now. And Netflix turnaround from the island is about 6 days. The other day I broke down and ordered a flat panel TV.

Which brings up our space limitations. I thought people might like to see the digs, so here are some pictures that make the place seem bigger (and less dusty) than it is. I should also note that these were taken immediately after our first cleaning of the house, so please don't think the floors are always that clean, or that the beds are made on a regular basis.

Here is the front of the house. It is at the end of row of 5 or 6 units. They things really like to climb in the little tree that's in front.


The house overlooks this nice little courtyard in which the deer poop and the children play. Some graduate students are living in the house opposite. It's a quiet place, but on weekends the sounds of the DJ down at the restaurant/bar are clearly audible (even with the windows closed).


The main room is sunny and cheery, due to our exposure (just about due east) and the skylights. The striped hardwood floors take a little getting used to, but I'm sure it's better than carpet in this dusty environment.




The kitchen is, well, tiny. Yes, that's it there in the corner. Not sure where all our stuff is going to go once it gets here.


The things are enjoying their bunk beds. One other feature of the room is not visible in this photo. The doors to the closet are mirrors, making the room look bigger, and providing hours of entertainment for silly boys.


The master bedroom seems sizeable. It is also nice and sunny due to the current lack of window treatment in the eastern window. From that window we can clearly see the door to the little red schoolhouse. We have dreams of shouting downstairs "Get up! Get dressed! Get breakfast! Make your lunch! Go to school!" and then looking out the window to see Thing1 disappear through that door.


Finally, we have the backyard. Bit of dust bowl right now. Not a living thing in it except the eucalyptus tree. Expect some improvements here.


Tomorrow: Poopcorn

Life in Two Harbors

Our life in Two Harbors (TH) has now begun. So what is it like?

As far as my job goes, it's still very start-up-y (to coin a useless phrase). I had been working from home on a slightly different computer set-up (Debian there, RedHat Enterprise Linux here), and thus I am learning the differences in systems administration, and downloading and installing packages and perl modules I need, and, of course, lots and lots of trouble shooting. After two weeks, I finally got the web page I built in Maryland working correctly. I'm still spending a fair amount of time dealing with move issues - settling insurance issues, trying to schedule the move of our household goods, trying to make sure our bills are being sent to the proper address. (I am learning the insidious disadvantage of the 3 hour time difference.) Science-wise, I am playing catch-up to try to figure out project requirements and what questions we're trying to answer and come up with solutions that don't include a 40-person IT infrastructure and a 300 node grid. On top of this, a new conference center is going up (http://biology.usc.edu/BooneCenter/ - warning: lots of images, so don't click unless you have broadband), and just as I started working, they started shipping houses across the channel. Not too much of a disruption there, a house driving up the hill and past your office door.

One thing that has been difficult has been a lack of a vehicle on the island. It's about 2 miles to campus from TH. For the first week our friends were out of town, so we borrowed their 4Runner. The next week we had to do with occasionally borrowing a University vehicle. I adapted my commute by borrowing a kayak and paddling across the harbor (flat, straight, not dusty) instead of walking the road (hilly, curvy, very dusty). For the most part, this is exactly as cool as it sounds - a little exercise, a way to enjoy the water and weather, a pleasant commute - but I don't have a proper waterproof bag yet, so I don't risk taking anything electronic (except, of course, my phone).

The two biggest problems we've encountered so far are laundry and groceries. There is an overused laundromat in town, and an overused laundromat at WMSC. Both are far enough away from the house that it's unpleasant to get there without a vehicle, and, like I said, they're overused making it hard to find an available machine. We have solved that problem by purchasing a washer and dryer this weekend (our unit has hook-ups). We went to the mainland this weekend and bought a pair at StuffMart. The island idiosyncrasy here is that they will be delivered to a USC pier to be hauled across the channel. I need to call the facility and let them know to expect it and put in on the next available boat. So laundry should be solved when they arrive and we can get someone to hook them up.

One solution to the food problem is to drive over to Avalon, on the other side of the island, but since we don't have a vehicle yet... (Plus, there's a pronounced price mark-up.) The other choice is to stock up on the mainland. (Guess what else we did this weekend.) A third option is to attempt to shop for some groceries on-line (Amazon has dry goods!), but selection there is spotty, and you can't get milk and vegetables. A fourth option is to add to the order the WMSC dining hall puts in each week. We're starting to figure out how well each of these options will work for us. We haven't missed a meal yet, but we have run out of things like milk (two Things, remember?) and bread (oh yeah, everyone's eating lunch at home).

One thing that should simplify our life is our other major purchase of the weekend, a 2003 Nissan Pathfinder. It's unbelievable how hard it was to find a used 4-wheel drive vehicle in LA. Either they have 100K miles or they're overpriced brands or they're not on a truck body. We finally reached desperation after two days of shopping. Luckily this vehicle popped up, and I think we got an okay deal. It is also at a berth at the Port of LA waiting to be put on a barge. It's disheartening to spend $16K one day on a vehicle and the next drop it off and only receive a little piece of paper. Not to mention we only have one key for it, but that's another story...(stupid microchips).

Don't know what else to say right now. I've met people at WMSC, but nobody in town yet really. Except for the Harbor Master. He's married to one of the admin. assts. at WMSC. On busy weekends he even drives a shore boat, and we happened to be down at the dock in TH and the Things got into a conversation with him. (Thing1 is not so shy.) The funny thing is that I didn't realize he was the Harbor Master, since he was driving a shore boat, and we ended up going to a Conservancy dinner that same night with him and his wife. I laughed when I realized it was the same guy.

But I guess that's TH in a nutshell. They guy driving the shore boat is the same one with whom you attend a dinner at a Boy Scout camp run by Mormons and attended by the former CEO of Pioneer along with other well-heeled, old money types. You know, like every other small town.

The end of our vacation

So I realize that I haven't finished the description of our cross-country trip. For those of you who have been sitting at your computers for the last two weeks hitting 'Refresh', here (as Paul Harvey says) is the rest of the story...

Day two at Yellowstone. Our first stop was Mammoth Springs. I had been particularly excited to see the giant cascading hot springs I had seen on the web. We made a minor mistake in parking in the lower parking lot, which meant we had to climb up a long boardwalk, which, of course meant there would be much whining and complaining from Thing2 about how tired he was and how hot it was (did I mention it was hot, like, Africa hot?) We did manange to make it to the top, to discover that due to recent water flow, geologic conditions, whatever, only one part of it was actually flowing. Now I have to admit that, despite my disappointment at the limited flow, it was really cool (stinky, but very cool). The flowing water building these little pools, water cascading over the edges like a fountain, colorful streams of microbial mats - very beautiful.

We finished there close to lunch time. We had planned on doing another hike, to an overlook of the Yellowstone River, but had no interest in doing another hot, sunny hike like the previous day's. We drove down to the picnic area from which the hike started and ate. The Things had a good time climbing around on rocks while I scouted out the trail to see what it was like. I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to try it with the boys, so Sweetie identified another trail we could do, way down on Yellowstone Lake.

This turned out to be a boon. After a long drive down, we arrived at a shady, flat trail. After coddling Thing2 through his first experience peeing on a tree (he was very excited), we took off down the trail. We came to a break in the trees at the shore of the lake. We noticed some movement down the beach and saw a coyote about 40 feet away. We looked at it, it looked at us, then it trotted into the woods, crossed the trail behind us, and disappeared. Still awestruck by this close encounter, we noticed more movement in the bushes a little ways away, and saw a bull bison rolling in the dust, a little beyond where the coyote was. This was a little closer than we really cared to be to a bison, so we moved down the trail. We stopped to wade in the lake; the Things got their pants wet. Sweetie looked up the shore at some birds: an adult bald eagle and some white pelicans. Very cool. And then we saw the coyote again! It swam across a channel to a spit of land and started chewing on some piece of carcass it had stored over there. Like I said, this was a great hike! Then we were done for the day, and so it was back to camp.

The next day, we packed up camp and headed south toward Grand Teton NP. Of course, we had to stop for a hike, this time up to Harlequin Lake in the hopes of seeing some waterfowl or beavers. It was, you guessed it, a hot, sunny hike. Mercifully, it was short. The lake was a bit of a bust. We did see some grebes, but nothing too interesting, and despite several lodges there were no beavers about.

We stopped and did some shopping before we left the park (also got some ice cream). Then it was down to Grand Teton. We decided to camp there for the night (although I was feeling some serious vacation fatigue at this point). The Things attempted to fill up Jackson Lake with rocks while we waited for our dinner at a pizza place at the marina. The Things and Sweetie played a card game called Trash. Thing2 was playing for the first time and beat the pants off of the others. Thing1 at one point (he was having terrible luck) was literally laughing and crying at the same time. Very odd.

We awoke the next morning, packed up camp, and headed off in search of moose and Trumpeter swans, both of which had been spotted in the park. We went to where we were supposed to see Trumpeter swans and saw, of course, a bull moose. But no swans. Having accomplished half our mission, we drove down to Jackson Hole. Just outside town, and right next to the road, is a small river preserve. As we drove by we saw some large white birds; you guessed it - Trumpeter swans! Two pairs, one with two cygnets! This was very exciting, and we watched them for quite a while.

So that really was pretty much the end of vacation. We drove straight down I-15 from there. We did have some bonus vacation as we drove past Zion National Park, and when we visited Hoover Dam, and when we went to the beach in Long Beach.

I'll try to get some more photos posted, but we're playing musical computers here so there might be a delay. I'll also do some more posting about life on the island tomorrow. (Hopefully.)

One small step for mankind...one giant leap for the Nelsons

We've arrived. Yesterday we took the USC boat out to the island at 8am. We took a lot of gear with us. We had all our camping gear, two over-sized suitcases and a duffle bag and a laundry bag that contained a large proportion of our clothing, a roll-on bag full of toys and books, a bag full of shoes, two totebags full of toys and books, two Lego lap-desk thingies, four boxes of dry and canned goods, two coolers of perishables, three laptop computers and one photo printer. Oh, and two Things. It's good to travel light.

We arrived at WMSC at about 9:15. Our friends who work there are both travelling right now, so they lent us their truck. We carried some of our stuff over to the new domicile and began unpacking. A University truck delivered the rest of our stuff. At lunch we ate at the WMSC cafeteria. A large bull bison decided to wander onto the property (not many fences can stop them, if they put their mind, uh, weight to it). He munched grass below us as we munched sandwiches on the patio. Welcome to Catalina.

The Things were both very excited about the boat trip, the new house, their bunk beds, the backyard, the tree in the front yard, everything. We had to take a trip down to the playground, which was hilarious, because while I sat there reading the latest Harry Potter, they holed up in a tube that was part of the playset. I wasn't sure they were still there, they were so quiet. But every once in a while Thing 2 would pop his head out and announce "We're playing Star Wars!" We went home and both of them fell asleep sitting up on the couch trying to watch a Speed Racer DVD.

We ate a delicious first dinner of salmon and cucumber sauce and pasta (ask Sweetie for the recipe) and then tried to get the Things to go to sleep. Eventually they succumbed.

Today I actually went to work, leaving Sweetie to deal with the Things on her own. (And I took the truck.) It was a day of setting up email and re-familiarizing myself with the computer setup. At one point, just as I was trying to establish a connection with WXYC (the UNC-Chapel Hill radio station which has a internet simulcast) to diminish the irritation of taking an on-line sexual harrassment training course, the internet connection cut out. For someone who does bioinformatics, this is the same as taking a writer's pencil or an engineer's scientific calculator. I could get no work done. Welcome to the island, so I thought. So I called an old friend who lives in CA, and had a nice chat with him. After lunch, still with no internet, I tracked down the lab manager (who is responsible for calling ITS when problems arise) and she said there was nothing wrong with her connection. I returned to my computer to discover that when I had tried to plug in my headphones, I jostled the ethernet cable and killed my connection. Oops.

I ended up having a rather productive day. Arriving home, Sweetie told me (to my suprise) that the Things had been remarkably good during the day, playing with each other inside, outside, on the computer, with not much fuss. Maybe it's something in the air? Anyway, another mostly pleasant evening passed. (Thing 2 did complain before taking a shower that "something smells funny" - I had to explain that it was the water. It's very hard, and smells faintly of seashore, and tastes, well, greasy. It's hard to explain.)

So two days down and things are going pretty well. Our friend Karla said that it would take time to adjust to the slower pace of life, and I can see how that will be so. But the advantages of cool, sunny days and offices with doors that open to the outside with gulls crying in the background and bison sitting on the volleyball court are immediately apparent to me. Tomorrow, Sweetie is planning on taking the boys to the beach, a walk of nearly a quarter mile. She may swing by the lab and we can go sea kayaking at lunch time. In not too long, we'll probably allow the boys to run down to the playground by themselves.

In time, there's a chance we might like it here...

7/24/2007

So at this date, our vacation part of the trip is over, now just the long drive is ahead. Tonight we are in Ogden, UT. Let me recap, and attempt to remember, what all we did.

So the next morning, we went to Wind Cave. The boys were very excited about going into a cave. Wind Cave is known mostly for its boxwork formations, which aren't as spectacular as some other cave formations, but very cool nonetheless. It was cool and dark in the cave, which was a welcome relief. Thing 2 was a trooper, but needed to be carried up several of the sets of stairs. Thing 1 earned yet another Junior Ranger badge.

We next moved on to Jewel Cave. On the way there, we drove through a storm that dumped rain and hail on us. It was pretty violent, and made driving on those mountain roads all the more exciting. We arrived to find out that our only tour option was the Jewel Cave Discovery Tour, which we thought should be renamed the Cruel Tease Tour, since the tour consists of descending to the cave, but staying in the first chamber for 20 minutes. This tour was made more exciting for us when the power went out above (due to the same storm system), and our ranger got trapped in the elevator. They eventually sent us down a second ranger, but apparently poor Shea was stuck in elevator for about 3 hours. The boys were very disappointed that we didn't get to descend the tempting staircases that led to the lower levels. So we decided we would try to return the next day and take a longer tour. But now it was time to head on over to our hotel for the evening.

We drove to Keystone, SD, which is right next to Mount Rushmore. The weather was still rainy, and the clouds had descended to the point that we couldn't see the faces when we drove by. That night we ate a a local cafe. Sweetie had bison ribs and I had a bison steak. Quite tasty. The boys swam in the pool after dinner, while Sweetie did some laundry (which was sorely needed at this point in the trip).

The next morning, the sun broke through the clouds. We drove up to Mount Rushmore, and enjoyed breakfast in full view of the four Presidents. For being a bit of a one-trick pony, the folks at Mt Rushmore have really put together a great park. They have exhibits on both the building of sculpture and the historical significance of the subjects.

We didn't spend too much time there, however, as we wanted to get back to Jewel Cave. This time, we got on a much longer tour that was spectacular. We saw all sorts of groovy cave formations, and the Things were fully satisfied (as were Sweetie and myself). I liked the cave bacon. Thing 1 liked the walls covered with nailhead spar, and Thing 2 liked his 'cave kiss' (a drip of water fell on his face). Sweetie like the soda straw and some of the wet formations. We all agreed it was definitely worth the return trip to take this tour. And Thing 1 earned another Junior Ranger badge.

We now drove over to Devil's Tower. Interestingly, the name Devil's Tower is due to a mis-translation of the Native American name (which, of course, I can't remember). We picked out a lovely campsite in the shadow of the Tower, and then decided to go on a hike. Devil's Tower is really, really impressive. I was shocked by how massive and geometric and beautiful it is. We hiked around the base of the tower on a nice shady trail (did I mention that we happened to be traveling at a time when temperatures were predicted to be 10 to 20 degrees above average?). The Things really enjoyed jumping around on the rocks, even though that behavior was driving us nuts at the time), and we saw some good wildlife - mule deer, rock doves in their native habitat, turkey vultures and squirrels. Back at camp we had lovely light on the tower as we ate dinner. It's a good day when you eat breakfast in full view of Mt. Rushmore and dinner next to Devil's Tower. That night Thing 1 and I attended a ranger program. At one point the ranger was talking about the stone that makes up Devil's Tower, phonolite porphyry. He said something about how it was a rare type that occurred mostly in Africa and that there was only a little bit in North America. I nudged Thing 1, pointed to the Tower and said "Yeah, only a little bit."

The following day was a traveling day. We packed up and drove all day to Yellowstone. We took a very scenic route through the mountains to get there, and entered through the northeast entrance. This meant that we got to drive the Lamar Valley at dusk. We saw bison and elk and even a momma black bear with her cub. Quite successful on our first hour in the park! We stayed in Gardiner, MT that night, just outside the north entrance. The next morning we grabbed a campsite in Indian Creek, and headed off for a short hike up to Mystic Falls. We drove down to Biscuit Basin and saw the springs there and then headed up the trail. Did I mention that they were experiencing record heat? On top of that the fire in 1988 killed many of the mature lodgepole pines in the park, and the replacement trees are only about 8 feet tall, meaning that there is little shade in much of the park. So hiking uphill in the heat of an extremely hot, dry day with two small Things can have some unpleasant moments. The falls were pretty, though and we had some fun climbing up a rocky slope we found. At times, the Things (Thing 2 in particular) found their hiking rhythm and were pretty good, but at other times, it was like pulling teeth. Occasionally, a hat was thrown to the ground as we were informed that it was "very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, hot!"

We next headed down to see Old Faithful blow. May I say here that the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone is completely overdeveloped and an absolute nightmare. The area immediately surrounding the geyser is okay (how pretty is a geyser basin to start with?), but the stores and the lodge and the huge parking lots and wide roads and loads of people were god-awful. We had a good view of the eruption, and I think the Things were suitably impressed, but we were glad to be on our way from there. Our next stop was Grand Prismatic Spring. This, I think, is best viewed from the air, but being able to see the microbial mats changing as the water flowing from the pool cooled and changed chemically was really cool. The colors were stupendous, but every time that hot, sulfurous steam blew across, it was mighty unpleasant. We made a half-hearted attempt to find one of the springs that one of the projects I'm working on was sampled from, but it was getting late, so we headed back to camp. It's remarkable how large that park is. You can't get as much done in a day as you might think because of the distances involved. The first time I realized Old Faithful was 50 miles away, I was dumbfounded.

Well, it's getting late. I still have another day of Yellowstone and a day at Grand Teton to get through, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

7/17/2007

The next day was a long drive day. The boys did pretty well. They played Legos and watched a movie or two. We got into Badlands National Park at around 3pm (I think). We were immediately met by some outstanding jagged formations. What a cool geography! And so varied. There are steep, teeth-like peaks, sod tables (flat butte-like things), rounded mounds, and even the occasional hoodoo. Every cliff is banded in grays and rust reds. Although I must say that the formations were smaller than they at first appeared. They looked like they should be huge mountains, but most were less than a hundred feet tall.

It was hot and a little windy. The first thing I discovered, while setting up the tent, was that I had left the tent stakes at the last campsite. So Dad ran off to try to purchase stakes so the tent wouldn't blow away. After a successful (overpriced) shopping trip, I returned triumphant to camp where Sweetie said "Walk in the tent." I did so, to discover that actually the tent stakes were trapped underneath the tent. (Chagrin.) We made dinner (bratwursts) and had just enough time to catch the ranger program on re-introduction of native mammal species to the park - bison, swift foxes, black-footed ferrets, and mountain goats.

At bedtime, it was hot. The Things were tired, and fell asleep quickly, but I sweated and tossed for a while. I think I woke up around 2 or 3 am, and by then it had cooled off to a comfortable temperature. The next morning, we had a quick breakfast and then went on a ranger-led geology walk. It wasn't that informative. Sweetie told Thing 1 he needed to become a geologist so he could tell us about how the formations, uh, formed. It was hot. (This is a theme.) The weather report said it was supposed to be 102. We hung out in the visitor center for a while. Their displays were great, and they had a very nice 20 minute movie. (And it was air-conditioned!) Then it was time for Thing 1's Junior Ranger program, which was also on geology, and followed the same course as the geology walk that morning. Oops. Anyway, with that out the way, it was back for hot lunch. We decided that in the afternoon we would stay out of the heat by staying in the car. We first drove up to Minuteman Missile National Monument, and Thing 1 got a second Junior Ranger badge. From there we were going to go on a loop drive. We decided to stop off at the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands office. They had a great educational display as well - we highly recommend it - and it also had a Junior Ranger- like program, so Thing 1 earned a third badge.

We did eventually get on the loop drive, although we took a wrong turn so it wasn't really a loop. We saw a huge prairie dog city which was great. The little guys were peeking out and running around. Very cute. We also saw some mountain goats, mommies and babies. Very cool. And one bison at great distance (somewhat disappointing). The views down into the valley were amazing. There was again the huge variety in the landscape, this time with the vast grasslands running right up to the edge of the severe landscape. Very striking. We also saw one area where plant like caused yellows and greens to run into and intensify the reds of the soil in these nicely rounded mounds.

We decided it was too hot to cook dinner, so we made the mistake of going to the Cedar Lodge restaurant. I don't know what the problem was, but it took forever for us to get our food, and it was overcooked when we got it. This was not great for two hungry, tired Things. But at least it was air-conditioned. We got back to camp in time for the ranger program on the history of the Badlands. This was not engaging for the youngsters, so they left. Once again at bedtime, it was sweaty-hot. But we slept okay.

The next morning (this morning) Sweetie got up early to bird. We made pancakes for breakfast, which went very smoothly, and then broke camp. They boys greatly enjoyed running up and down the little hills, while we packed up. We saw a few bunnies around camp. We drove over to the site of a paleological dig called the big pig dig. It was cool to see actual scientists doing their work. There was a jaw that was already plastered up, and a spine and another jaw being uncovered. The Things really like this.

We left the Badlands, and its heat and hard water behind. I really enjoyed the scenery, but I wasn't sorry to be leaving. I can see why the homesteaders called it the Badlands. We drove over to Custer State Park, which is lovely and has lots to do. We did the wild life drive, but didn't see too much wildlife: a few pronghorns, and some prairie dogs. The bison herd was off in a valley. But the day was saved by the Chuckwagon Dinner. We got hats and bandannas and loaded into big wagon (pulled by pickups). We took off down the road and right into the middle of the herd of 400 bison. We were surrounded by cows and calfs, and the huge bulls. It was really impressive. We had a singer on the wagon who was very good and funny. We sang songs the whole way. Dinner was unremarkable, but tasty. There was more music, and a little dancing (the hokey-pokey and chicken dance?) And then it was back on the wagons and home. The boys loved it. Tonight we're staying in a cute little cabin and taking some well-deserved showers.

7/14/2007

Leaving the house was a strange experience. One feeling I had was "once I had all this!", since our new living quarters will be much smaller. Another was immense sadness to be leaving not only this house, but the area in which we spent the last 10 years of our lives. Maryland saw us married, was the birthplace of both boys, was the burial place of two of our cats. We played and laughed and cried and did pretty much everything in life in our time in Maryland. So it's hard to leave all that behind.

As I was riding in the shuttle to the airport, I tried to think of the many times I had driven down I270 - to the NIH, to the Zoo, to Bethesda for dinner with friends, to my tap dance lessons - and the George Washington Parkway - to DC for dinner, plays at the Shakespeare Theatre, shows at the Kennedy Center, trips to museums and the monuments. A lot gets packed into ten years.

And so goodbye to Maryland and off to Chicago. The flight was smooth enough. I got my luggage with no problems and Sweetie and the Things found me with no problems. We met up with Ralph, a friend of mine from Bucknell days, and his new bride for dinner. It was good to see them and talk to them, since we missed the wedding. Then it was downtown to a hotel off Grant Park.

The next day was spent visiting the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. In the Field museum we looked at the Ancient Egypt exhibit, the Evolving Planet exhibit (which traces the history of life on earth from the first single-cell organisms through dinosaurs and to modern life forms), and the Underground Adventure, which taught about the variety and magnitude of microscopic life in the soil. The boys had a great time and behaved very well. The underground and the dinosaurs left a big impression, while the thing mostly remembered from the Egyptian exhibit was that the guts were pulled out. After a quick lunch, we headed over to the Shedd to look at the dolphins, whales, and Amazon exhibit. We decided to try an adventure for dinner. We took the subway uptown and ate at Gino's East. Again, the boys did pretty well, although they did feel the need to touch every building in the city.

Friday morning we started the day by going up the Sears tower. It was a lovely day, and the view was magnificent. Poor Thing 1 bought a souvenir that was dropped, broken and discarded before we left the building. We drove to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and camped in Wyalusing State Park. The park sits on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. It was pretty quiet as state parks go. We had a campfire and made s'mores. The boys slept well that night, the parents, not so much. Our bodies have aged past being able to be comfortable sleeping on the ground.

The boys made sure our neighbors were up early the next morning, as we broke camp and headed over to Effigy Mounds National Monument. This is a place where ancient natives built earthen mounds in various shapes over burial sites. It was a beautiful park, very clean, with well-maintained trails. And it had beautiful views of the Mississippi river valley and the mounds. We saw a garter snake and a pickerel frog, and Thing 1 earned a Junior Ranger badge. After a quick picnic lunch, it was back into the car for a long drive across Iowa. It was peculiar how Wisconsin seemed so scenic while Iowa seemed very boring. Lots of corn. We were driving across on Rt 20 (rather than I90), which was likely a much more interesting road, even if it was not necessarily more scenic. (if that makes any sense). It reminded me a bit of the movie Cars when they talk about in the old days the road moved with the land, not through it. Anyway, after the long drive (and some long naps), they boys are not tired this evening.

Lift-off

So this is it, then. I'm down to my last two hours in Maryland (as a resident, anyway). What is not done will not get done before I leave and must be let go. I made one last trip to my former place of employment to say some goodbyes (they were getting really sick of seeing me). I'm doing some cleaning. My bags are packed.

It is an interesting phenomenon that when preparing for a big event like a trip, or a move, or even a wedding, the stress level can ramp up dramatically. But when the time comes for the plans to be put into action, it all melts away. Once events are out of your control, one can relax and see how it all turns out.

I'm off to Chicago today to meet up with Sweetie and the Things. We will have dinner with an old friend from my alma mater and his wife. Tomorrow we will do some touristy things downtown.

Now I'm sorry to be geeky, but a sojourn of this magnitude and import must be christened with suitably meaningful words, and I can think of none better than Frodo's traveling song from Fellowship of the Ring:

The Road goes ever on and on
     Down from the door where it began.
   Now far ahead the Road has gone,
     And I must follow, if I can,
   Pursuing it with eager feet,
     Until it joins some larger way
   Where many paths and errands meet.
     And whither then? I cannot say.

The Adventure Begins

We were able to include a few more 'lasts' in the last few days: last visit to Nina's, last day of playing with the neighborhood kids. We had a near tragedy when it looked like the rain was going to prevent us, (well, mostly Thing 1) from seeing fireworks on Independence Day, but the rain stopped and all was well again. So, for the kids anyway, it was an enjoyable last few days in Maryland.

After a hectic few days of packing, this morning Sweetie and the Things were packed in the car and are off to visit Grandma W (and all of Sweetie's other friends and relations). It's amazing how much there is to do when you're going on a cross-country trip with no plans to return. The day before was quite stressful with us trying to make sure we had everything packed for camping out, took plenty of clothes for the trip, and weren't overlooking anything we might need once we got to the island and before our household stuff arrives (which will probably not be for 6-8 weeks). We also were trying to figure out which things we could ship out. I have also been trying to get rid of some pieces of furniture (including a car) that we will not move with us, which meant following up on many emails and phone calls.

I went to sleep last night fretting about what still needed to be done before I left, and whether we would have a good vacation, and whether we would like living on the island, whether I would like my job, whether I would be successful at my job, etc, etc, etc. Finally I fell asleep and when I awoke, the fretting began anew. I am feeling better now (such thoughts always seem to be magnified late at night), especially since I got quite a few things accomplished today, but there is still much to do.

The other day, I actually caught myself getting excited about how much fun the vacation is going to be. That hadn't happened before with all the stress and anxiety of the trip and the move. Sweetie laughed when I told her. So an auspicious beginning, I think. News from the road today was that the boys were behaving and the car was behaving. I do hope they have a good visit on the farm. But for me it's errands to do before I leave, and errands to do before I leave (with apologies to Robert Frost).

Lasts

Life these days seems a never-ending string of lasts. Starting way back in April with my last day of work (although I've been back to the Institute many times since), we've had Thing 1's last day of school, and his last Tiger Cub meeting, Sweetie's last class, Thing 2's last day at daycare. My parents have been down for the last time, and when my Mom recently left, she took our cat with her, so we had our last week with him.

There's been a parade of goodbye dinner parties. We've recently hosted my former group from work, friends from NIH days, friends from Chapel Hill, and friends from Bucknell. There has been an element of the ridiculous surrounding
these last two, since we have only seen these people a few times since they moved into the area. There's always been plenty of time to see them, so we never did, and now that we're leaving, we're trying to shoehorn in a last visit with them.

Our leave date has now taken the form of impending doom. What with Sweetie and the boys leaving at the end of this week (due to a schedule change),
everything is imminent, which ramps up the stress level unbelievably. We still have furniture and a car to get rid of. Packing is not done. The camping equipment is not fully laid out. (And here am I working on my blog...) The house is still showing. I have a list of 15 things to do of which I did parts of 3 today. And there's a holiday coming up on which we will spend a last afternoon at a friends house and pool. I've been going there almost annually since I graduated from Bucknell. We are so very out of time.

I guess I need to get back to doing something productive. It's sort of my last chance.

There and Back Again

We took Thing 1 and Thing 2 to Catalina this weekend so they could see what it was like before we actually moved out. I think this may have relieved some of Thing 1's anxiety about the move.

We flew out Friday afternoon, got in around 2:30, grabbed some 'dinner' at the airport, and then got a shuttle to the Catalina Express terminal in San Pedro. We had some time to kill before our ferry, so we did some sight-seeing. For those of you who have never been to the San Pedro Catalina Express terminal, it is in a very, um, interesting location. Directly under the Vincent Thomas bridge at the end of the 110, it is in the middle of the Port of LA. On one side there was a GIANT freighter being unloaded by GIANT cranes. (You really have to see these things to have an appreciation of their size.) On the other side was the cruise ship terminal. We got to see the Monarch of the Seas pull out. And there is also a retired Navy boat the SS Lane Victory to look at. Chester (a stuffed bear) almost got left at the bocce courts, but Sweetie found him while doing some bird watching.

The Things managed to stay awake for the entire boat trip, despite the facts that 1) it had already been a very long day, 2) the sun had gone down, and 3) the trip was extra long because of the stop in Avalon. I guess your first trip across the channel is exciting. When we got in to Two Harbors, we were greeted by our friend John and some other faculty who happened to be out with a class. We walked up to the 'townhouse' where we'll be living. The boys were very bouncy until we lay them down, and then they fell asleep immediately.

The next day we took a drive into the interior, saw some bison (including a baby), saw the burn area, and ate lunch at the Airport in the Sky. We also showed the Things the Wrigley Marine Science Center and then had dinner with our friends. The kids played video games. Sunday we went kayaking in the morning. We saw some sea lions basking and the kelp beds. We could see some garibaldi's down by the rocks. It was fun and no-one fell out or got bonked on th head with a paddle. We also took a hike up the ridge above the WMSC and had a close encounter with two bison who had wandered through the fence. The kids were unimpressed since they were busy playing swords with dried fennel stalks. Once again, everyone was exhausted by the end of the day (and Dad was sunburned).

Monday was another long travel day. First a drive to Avalon to catch the ferry, then the ferry, then a taxi to the airport, then the (long) flight home, then the short trip on the 'mobile lounge' (bus) (since we flew into Dulles) and then the car ride home. Arriving home after midnight, Thing 2 was full of pep since he slept for about half the plane flight. Thing 1 could barely stand up, and had school the next morning.

We got a better look at the house where we'll be living. It's pretty small. We got a layout of the place and I've been making little furniture blobs to arrange. But it's clear that a good deal of our stuff will have to go into storage.

There are still many unknowns, and zero hour is approaching. The adventure is nigh.

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

Not much happening. Since our house has been on the market, we've shown it exactly 0 (zero) times. This is somewhat discouraging, although we're hopeful something will happen now that Memorial Day is past. The house looks great. We've been managing to keep it clean, and the new kitchen floor looks fantastic. This upcoming weekend, our real estate agent is throwing an open house. Maybe that will yield something.

We have now made plans for moving ourselves across the country (but not our stuff). Sweetie and I sat down and planned a route, and then she spent a few days making reservations and reshaping our route. We will be leaving mid-July and spending 17 days on the road. I'll keep the route secret for now, since I'm planning on blogging during our trip. But I will let slip that we're taking a northern route.

This weekend we visited Grammy & Grandpa N. A fun time was had by all (except G&G's cats, who spent the weekend in the woods). Thing 2 spent a great deal of time splashing his toes in G&G's pond. (The fish loved that...) Sunday we went up to Hopewell Furnace Nat'l. Historic Site. Thing 1 and Thing 2 earned Junior Ranger badges, which was very exciting for Thing 1. And, of course, Grammy and Sweetie got cancellations for their NPS passports. I got some video, and Grandpa got to see chickens. How can you go wrong with chickens?

Home again

Back home again. And what a trip it was.

Saturday I had nothing planned, so I decided to drive up to Topanga Canyon and maybe take a little hike. This ended up being a quintessential LA experience. To make it more scenic, I decided to try to follow the coast by taking the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), and it was pleasant enough, although (surprise, surprise) traffic was heavy, and it took most of two hours to get there. I parked in the lower parking lot and wandered over to the Dead Horse Trail head. There was a map that made no mention of how long the trail was, which vexed me, as I had brought no water with me and only a banana to eat.

I started up the trail and my first thought was that this looked like good mountain lion habitat. So now I was paranoid about being pounced on and began keenly scanning the undergrowth. Then I thought to myself that with all this scanning of the undergrowth, I was likely to miss any rattlesnakes sunning themselves on the trail and step on one. I was really enjoying my hike.

The trail turned out to only be about 1 mile. I saw no mountain lions or rattlesnakes (but lots of little lizards). My banana was a perfect snack, and I did not dehydrate. I did decide, however, to walk on the road back down to my car.

So now it was time to drive back down to San Pedro. I made the mistake of deciding to take the 405. Saturday afternoon, and it was a virtual parking lot. It took me most of an hour to get down to LAX, and then I got off and tried Santa Monica Blvd and the PCH. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to get back to the apartment. Ugh. All that for a 1 mile hike.

Sunday was my flight back home, except that an equipment failure led to the cancellation of the flight. After a full afternoon of waiting for my luggage to appear, I ended up staying at the airport Hilton (no sign of Paris; maybe she was locked up), and flew home the next day. A trip of minor catastrophes completed.

Our house is now officially on the market (see if you can find the listing in MLS). We are getting new kitchen flooring installed today, and we still need to get the hole in the wall repaired, but besides that everything is pretty much in order. Now if we can only keep it that way until it sells. (Encouragingly, a house down the street sold in 22 days.) Yesterday we had an open house for real estate agents, and they had very positive things to say about the house.

Now we just need to arrange our move...

Hot time on Catalina

I went out to Catalina Wednesday morning on a University boat. It was a nice smooth crossing. I visited the house in which we are going to live, and it was bigger than I remembered it, although there weren't two little boys filling it up. Didn't really do to much else that day. I re-acquainted myself with the computer I'll be using on the island, and did some preliminary set-up type work. John and I talked a little about projects.

Thursday was mostly more of the same; hacking around on the computer a bit. It was cool on the island, much cooler than LA was. LA was baking hot - 90 degrees and dry, dry, dry. Catalina was probably only about 75. Long pants and a fleece were appropriate. The wind was blowing steadily. About 3:30 in the afternoon, just after I got the email saying I might be able to log in to the USC system, suddenly the internet connection went out. As it was about dinner time on the east coast, I thought I'd call Sweetie while the internet was down, but, hmm the phones didn't work either. Then John appeared and said the land line was down. The construction guys on the island (who are building a new conference center) swore it was nothing they had done, and they were right. A fire had broken out on the island and burned down the microwave relay tower. The wind was pushing the fire toward Avalon, the big town on the other side of the island. We were relieved it wasn't heading our way. Then the power went out. So there we were with no power, a fire, and no method of communication with the mainland. Sticky.

We grilled some food for dinner, and played some Yahtzee with the kids. After the sun set, you could see the glow of the fire over the ridge. A few people managed to get cell phone calls through by walking up to the top of the ridge and getting a signal from LA. In the morning, a University boat arrived at around 9:30am. The director had brought over dry ice, batteries, satellite phones, and a portable generator. They were making a run back to the mainland with a group of students, so I hopped that boat. And here I am back in LA.

The fire seems to be controlled now. They have no idea when power will be restored to Two Harbors - might be a week or more. I guess such fires will be a fact of island living, although everyone was saying this was a very rare event. It was good to see such a quick, organized response from both Orange County and the USC staff.

Well, I'm rattling around LA today. Back home tomorrow.

Thumb-twiddlin', or not

All's well that end's well, as the bard says. After yesterday's 'wrinkles', I wasn't sure whether I was going to be able to successfully complete all my administrative tasks this week, but thanks to the help of the Wrigley staff and the USC administrative staff, I have now completed as much as I can until my information is processed by the bureaucracy and I am assigned an employee ID. This leaves me with time on my hands.

Or at least I thought it did. I decided to stop by and visit with a few faculty members on my way in this morning, and this has yielded no less than three scheduled appointments today. One is just a noon seminar, but the other two are about potential future projects. I have to admit it's gratifying to find that people are interested in my skills, but I'm also a little overwhelmed and wary of getting involved in too many projects too quickly.

Out in LA

This post is brought to you from sunny southern California. I could also say sunny Southern California, because I am on campus at USC (and it is, of course, sunny). I am out to go through orientation and payroll sign-up, etc, and of course there are wrinkles. The first is that although I thought I had to attend meeting Tuesday morning, I actually don't. I only need to go to the one Friday morning. But there's a wrinkle there, too. Friday is graduation day, so the meeting has been moved to Thursday. Oh, but there's a wrinkle there. On Thursday I'll be out on the island. Sigh. So we're trying to schedule a time I can meet with the benefits people. The Wrigley staff has been very friendly and helpful.

The house is ever closer to being ready for the market. This weekend we straightened the basement and did more painting (ugh). Sweetie worked more on the landscaping. Thing 1 and Thing 2 successfully avoided making any big messes. All the cabinets are back together, the floors are looking good, I installed the backsplashes on the countertop, and the garage is full of stuff. (I guess we still need to work on that.) Our real estate agent wants to list very soon. This may actually happen.

And now a technology tale: When we painted the kitchen, I moved the cable modem down to the cellar. I connected it back up using the same splitter and cable that the installation guy used upstairs. Since then, however, our cable connection has been spotty at best, and this weekend it was out completely on Saturday. On top of this, on Friday I decided to update some of my linux packages and ended up killing the X server, thus no nice windows-based GUI. Most of the time this would be aggravating, but tolerable. However this weekend I was trying to finalize my travel itinerary. I hadn't yet printed out my plane and car reservations, maps of campus, forms to fill out, or the itinerary itself. All of this was in my email and on the web on my linux computer. I was thinking, as I checked in at the airport with just my credit card, got my car with just my name, got to where I'm staying using my GPS unit, and arranged meetings with people on my cell phone, that if technology fails on a grand scale, we're screwed. (While I'm sure my father would point out that people survived thousands of years without such technology, they didn't have to fly to California.)

Finishing old tasks

Well, between a busy last week of work, working on the house, and various internet outages, it has been awhile since I last posted. Actually I must review what my last post was...ah yes.

We have had some major successes on the house front. The boys bathroom is done. (Huzzah!) Sweetie finished painting the cabinets, and made some curtains, and it looks great. The new carpet has been laid in the family room. (Huzzah!). This means the family room is done except for the hole in the wall. This weekend Sweetie worked on the curb appeal. She planted annuals and hung some baskets and, again, it looks great. Yesterday, the lawn was mowed. (Huzzah!) Now our house looks occupied. The new microwave is installed. (Huzzah!). The kitchen cabinets are done. (Huzzah, huzzah!) What a pain they were, but it has really made a difference. The whole kitchen looks updated, and the dingy old floors even look better. Besides painting the kitchen (and installing the backsplash on the countertops) about the only thing left is cleaning and decluttering. (Which will be a huge job.)


So yesterday (Monday) was my last day at the Institute Formerly Known as TIGR (they're still trying to come up with a symbol for that...) The day was mostly spent packing boxes and talking to people - saying goodbye - but I also had a nice lunch with some colleagues and sent some thanks-and-keep-in-touch emails. It was very odd carrying out my boxes of books etc. to the car and turning in my security badge. The feeling was not that I wasn't going back, but that I couldn't go back. Having spent eight years feeling secure in the knowledge that I could walk into the building anytime I wanted and do the things I do, I now am on my own with significantly reduced (or at least unknown) resources. I have definitely stepped outside my comfort zone.

Maybe I will start developing a new one next week. I will be flying to LA for a week to go through new employee orientation and sign up for benefits, look at housing on the island, and coordinate with John about work moving forward. I should have some time off, both at the beginning and the end of the week. Perhaps I can do some sight-seeing (stupid question, but what is there to see in LA?), or visit an old roommate.

Friday, (note the complete lack of linearity in this posting) there was a happy hour at the local pub to honor my tenure at TIGR. It was good to see people who don't often attend happy hours to show up: my office mate, certain other colleagues who are married with kids. I tried to get around and talk to everyone, but I'm not sure I did. I had a great time, reminiscing and just feeling good about both my time there and my decision to leave. A fun evening, although I really should've eaten something. I woke up early with a splitting headache - not ideal when the rest of the day was going to be taken up painting.

I should note that the Ebay auctions went well. I think only one item didn't sell (the bucket truck). Shipping all this stuff is a bit of a hassle. Hard to believe some people make their living doing this. (Where do they get the boxes?) I am thinking of auctioning off some more things, but perhaps I'll take my mom's advice and use one of those auction services.

Well, tomorrow will be a new adventure, just like every day. Best get some rest.

The First Law of Thermodynamics

The First Law of Thermodynamics has been paraphrased as "you can't win."

The disposal is now fully installed - a minor victory in this war, made less sweet by the fact that we had to hire mercenaries (well, a plumber) to seal it. But, you can't win. In order to position the drain pipe in the proper location, the plumber had to cut a 6 in x 1 ft hole in our freshly painted family room wall. Looks like the painters will have an additional task when they return to paint the kitchen.


I suppose "you can't win" could be renamed 'the First Law of Stuffmart' (our non-specific name for any big box home improvement center). Here is a typical trip to Stuffmart.
Attempt to find parking space.
Attempt to find parking space free of cart.
Enter store to realize you left planned returns a) in the car, or b) at home.
Begin walk of the damned through aisles looking for item you know you saw during your last trip.
Realize that your last trip was to the Stuffmart on the other side of town that has an entirely different layout and/or inventory.
Continue walk of the damned until you locate items similar to those you need.
Attempt not to curse out loud as you realize that everything but the thing you're looking for is there.
Grab something anyway in a vain hope that it will be an adequate substitute.
Take purchases to the front of the store (as directed) because it's ten o'clock and the store is now closing.
Go home.
Discover that item will not be an adequate substitute. (This occasionally includes a 'catastrophic failure' step.)
Add item to pile of returns.
Repeat.

One interesting wrinkle I encountered this evening was entering the store to realize the paint chip and drawer handle I had brought had fallen out through a hole in my pocket in the parking lot. No lie.

On the brighter side, or at least more sentimental, was that today my team held a lunch for me. They invited everyone who had ever been a part of the team. After lunch, I was presented with a cake and a DC United away jersey, which I thought was a very sweet, thoughtful gift. While touched by the whole event, I didn't feel sad, but very satisfied with my time here. It's a nice feeling.

So maybe I did win, just a little bit. (Don't tell thermodynamics.)

Exhaustion

So now we're a week away from a) putting our house on the market, and b) my last day at the JCVI. Today I spent the entire afternoon and evening painting the kitchen cabinets with primer. I didn't expect to be so utterly physically exhausted. After doing this for 3 1/2 hours, my arms and back were stiff, my shoulder was clenched and throbbing, and my legs were tired. I sat down on the couch and slept through (for the second time) Bionicles 3: Web of Shadows (which is utterly fascinating if you're six). Then after dinner it was back to painting, until, well, now.

Now I just want everyone to know that I hate painting. Sweetie says she doesn't mind painting because you get instant gratification of seeing what work you've accomplished, and instant feedback as to whether you like the result or not. I just think to myself "there must be something better I could be doing with my time." But the primer is on now for all the doors, and the frames, and some of the drawers. The weather has finally started cooperating, so we should be able to get this done in the next few days. (Hopefully two.)

So, things we need to finish this week: get the painters to paint the kitchen; schedule a powerwashing of the house; finish the boys bathroom; paint the vanity in our bathroom; clean, declutter and clean; try to schedule roofers to look at the new-or-relocated leak in the family room ceiling; oh, and we should try to go to work, too.

Speaking of work, my team is holding a lunch in my honor on Tuesday, and a happy hour at a local drinking establishment on Friday. It's a bit embarrassing to be approached about having these things, but I figure I've been working there 8 1/2 years, people (myself included) want some closure, so be gracious. (Brief glance inside my psyche: my brain keeps putting together speeches that include the phrases "I hope I haven't disappointed you all too badly in my time here," and "I like to think I've done more good than harm." Perhaps they won't ask me to say anything...) It will be hard to lose those daily connections I've made, and even harder to adjust to a work environment that doesn't include the tools I've come to depend on. But I'm sure I'll wax sentimental more in later posts this week.

A large glass of bourbon awaits me.

Rounding the corner

Today, I'm encouraged by the little things - nice weather, people watching (but not bidding on) my Ebay lots, the boys getting dressed by themselves.

Work is winding down. [Incidentally, today was Claire's last day at the Institute. As she was leaving the building, "Take This Job and Shove It" started playing over the intercom.] I met with my replacement today to start handing over spreadsheets and responsibilities. I'm trying to wind down the projects I have going. I've asked some of my people if there's anything they think I should try to complete before going. It's particularly odd because many of my closest colleagues have already left the Institute, and others are planning to leave, so it's a very weird vibe there right now. And while I recognize that, I'm also at the point where it doesn't affect me directly since I'm leaving, so I'm dissociated from it.

It looks like we'll finally have nice sunny warm weather for a weekend, so we'll try to get lots done with the cabinet painting. Sweetie is working very hard to get the upstairs completely done. I have scheduled a plumber to fix the disposal problem on Monday. I'm waffling on ending today's entry with "There is hope!" and "Tick tock, tick tock." Entirely different sentiments.

Pessimism

Today pessimism is setting in about our ability to get the house ready to sell by the end of the month. I've been totally defeated by the installation of the new disposal. The new sink is deeper and the new disposal mounts lower than the old, which means the drain pipe emerges from the wall too high to make the connection and drain properly. After 3 days of battle, I must concede defeat and call a plumber. This not only adds to our expenses, but also is yet another job to be scheduled, rather than completed.

Sweetie has started painting the vanity in the boys bathroom, but we still have not got anything arranged for the kitchen floor or the master bathroom countertop, and we still have to declutter the house, and hire a lawn service. (My mower is kaput, and I'm not going to buy a new one at this point.)

I'm also trying to sell some stuff on Ebay - Little People and Thomas toys and some old SLR cameras and lenses. It's very slow putting together the listings. So I've been getting punchy and my descriptions are getting sillier. Maybe it will help get people interested in the listing, although I'm pessimistic about selling anything.

Now that I've accepted, I need to arrange a trip out to CA to fill out paperwork and sign up for benefits, etc and also pick out housing. Another thing on my to-do list that keeps getting sidelined. Must do that tomorrow! To much to do...