Well, after eating lots of delicious ribs last night, I set out for my first day of work this morning. I have to say that starting a job the second time is a lot easier than the first time, because you know a little bit more of what to expect. There's still a lot of, "Wow, I really don't want to have to do that, but oh well..." that happens, but that's why it's called work I suppose. Most of today was learning about how to bill hours, meeting some folks, and making travel arrangements to Portland. I leave tomorrow directly from work, have a 10 hr training session on Wednesday, about 5 hrs on Thursday, and land back in Oakland at 10:15pm on Thursday night. I have a feeling the trip may not afford me much time to have fun, but again, that's why it's called work. I already feel behind, because the big drive is for me to be in the field, but I can't go into the field until I go through copious amounts of safety training, so now it's mostly having to wait for all of the scheduling to work out with training. Anyway. One thing that will be new for me is billing hours. I have to always bill my hours to some sort of project, one way or the other. It's a little different from just showing up and working. The upside is that if I am reading relevant material on an airplane, bill it. I also have a somewhat flexible schedule, where I can work remotely if need be. That's about it for now I suppose. Mostly I just want to eat and go pack for my trip to Portland tomorrow.
Oh yeah. And my supervisor (A) orders 200 lbs of New Mexico Green Chile every year and (B) is a cyclist. I'm actually convinced that 60% of the reason I got this job is because I went to New Mexico Tech, and I've already met a handful of people that went there.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
El Camino del Diablo (JPB)
Today I gave the road to the top of Mount Diablo a try on my bike. Rumor has it that Mt. Diablo was once listed as one of the 10 toughest climbs in the US by Bicycling Magazine. Lists can be bunk though. I went up the N.Gate road, and managed to make it all the way to the top (surprisingly enough). It was hard, but I did it. I'm pretty excited, because when we first got here, the hills were killing me. Up the North Gate road from the park entrance kiosk to the top is 3,320 ft (1012m) of climbing in 11 miles (17.8km). It's a slog. I'm glad I did it. Now it's time to start bringing down the time.
Monday, June 9, 2008
The Tub Plug
Among the various manly things that I enjoy, like driving a truck, grilling food, debating about whether or not to shave my legs, is taking baths. WHAT? It's a good place to read and you don't have to stand up. Unfortunately the drain mechanism doesn't work in the tub of our new house, so instead of dealing with having it fixed (note: plumbing is not one of the things on my 'manly' list) I decided to look for a drain stopper, which seemed like it would be an immediate solution. It has been very difficult to find just a regular, flat, drain stopper like I wanted. So today I went to the hardware store (manly) to get a replacement nut for my weed-eater (even more manly). While there I found the exact drain stopper that I've been needing. So why does all of this constitute a blog entry? The drain stopper came with instructions, I kid you not. They read, "Instructions: place drain stopper over drain." Really.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Announcing the Tour de Fun (JPB)
There have been a lot of rumors going around in my head about the 'Tour de Fun.' I am glad to announce that they are true (mostly. the one about the monkey on a penny-farthing isn't, unfortunately). What is the 'Tour de Fun?' Well, the Tour de Fun is a bike event founded June 05, 2008 in Walnut Creek, California (actually, I may have officially been in Martinez at the time...so...let's say Contra Costa County) by Joel Bensing, a full time idiot, part time bon vivant, burgeoning hydrogeologist (HA!), with a hint of lime, and artificial flavoring. (yes, if you add all those up they are greater than one 'full time.' That's what makes me great). The Tour de Fun is a non-competitive cycling event that happens 1-7 days a week, and may have 1-6,602,224,175 (+/-) participants. There have been a lot of questions asked about Tour de Fun, mostly asked by me somewhere between Castro Ranch Road and my eyes popping out of my head going up Pig Farm Hill. I will answer those questions here:
Q: Do I have to go to France, Quebec, Algeria, or Martinique to participate in Tour de Fun?
A: No. You do not. Despite the name, there is nothing particularly francophone about the Tour de Fun, unless you happen to be particularly francophone. The name's origin lies in marketing. Tour de Fun just has the quasi-french, euro-je ne sais quoi sound to it, sort of like the Tour de Georgia: Presented by AT&T, only Tour de Fun is fake and made up by an idiot.
Q: Do I have to shave my legs to participate in the Tour de Fun?
A: While some participants may choose to do so, this is not required. In fact, some people prefer to NOT shave their legs, so they can sandbag the "more advanced" riders. This sandbagging technique increases in effectiveness as your gender approaches 'female.'
Q: Is it true that you HAVE to eat ice cream after the Tour de Fun?
A: Yes. That is our officially sanctioned benediction.
Q: Do I need a fancy road bike to participate?
A: No. Unicycles, little big-wheels, training wheels, cruisers, mountain bikes, low riders, etc. are all equally encouraged.
Q: Do I have to wear tights with pads (a.k.a chamois) in them?
A: Not necessarily, but you should. Everyone from Stephen Hawking to Joey Buttafuoco will tell you that I suck at math, but I did a quick back of the envelope calculation that proves the more you ride, the more you will want bike shorts. Shorts, while silly, help with nether-region comfort and control, aerodynamics, and muscle fatigue. (it's true. so called "science" says so).
Q: Will I get REALLY bad tan lines?
A: Yes.
Q: Sure this sounds fun, but how much does it cost?
A: That's the great thing about the Tour de Fun! All you need is a bike, a helmet, and some time (and possibly sunscreen. See Above).
Q: Where do I sign up?
A: That's the easiest part. Just get on your bike, and you'll find it.
Q: Do I have to go to France, Quebec, Algeria, or Martinique to participate in Tour de Fun?
A: No. You do not. Despite the name, there is nothing particularly francophone about the Tour de Fun, unless you happen to be particularly francophone. The name's origin lies in marketing. Tour de Fun just has the quasi-french, euro-je ne sais quoi sound to it, sort of like the Tour de Georgia: Presented by AT&T, only Tour de Fun is fake and made up by an idiot.
Q: Do I have to shave my legs to participate in the Tour de Fun?
A: While some participants may choose to do so, this is not required. In fact, some people prefer to NOT shave their legs, so they can sandbag the "more advanced" riders. This sandbagging technique increases in effectiveness as your gender approaches 'female.'
Q: Is it true that you HAVE to eat ice cream after the Tour de Fun?
A: Yes. That is our officially sanctioned benediction.
Q: Do I need a fancy road bike to participate?
A: No. Unicycles, little big-wheels, training wheels, cruisers, mountain bikes, low riders, etc. are all equally encouraged.
Q: Do I have to wear tights with pads (a.k.a chamois) in them?
A: Not necessarily, but you should. Everyone from Stephen Hawking to Joey Buttafuoco will tell you that I suck at math, but I did a quick back of the envelope calculation that proves the more you ride, the more you will want bike shorts. Shorts, while silly, help with nether-region comfort and control, aerodynamics, and muscle fatigue. (it's true. so called "science" says so).
Q: Will I get REALLY bad tan lines?
A: Yes.
Q: Sure this sounds fun, but how much does it cost?
A: That's the great thing about the Tour de Fun! All you need is a bike, a helmet, and some time (and possibly sunscreen. See Above).
Q: Where do I sign up?
A: That's the easiest part. Just get on your bike, and you'll find it.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The Last Place I Looked: a Nouveau Appreciation (JPB)
So it's always a good laugh to make fun of people who say stuff like, "Why is what I'm looking for always in the last place I look?" Think about that one for a little while....
Today, well, the past month really, I could've really used a can opener. Now that our stuff arrived I finally made a full on assault on trying to find our can opener. I'm not sure why I needed the can opener so bad, but I did. Those who know me well, know that I can get like that sometimes [think back to me obsessing in trying to find the lid to the peanut butter as we're trying to pack up camp during a tornado (no exaggeration). The lid just had to be found]. Our can opener was, obviously, in the last place I looked. Unfortunately, out of all the boxes delivered to us, I managed to open every single other box before I got to the can opener. This box was hidden inside another box underneath a pile of pajamas. It must've been one of those random last minute packing boxes where you just haphazardly throw stuff into any open box. At least I finally found it, in the last place I looked.
Today, well, the past month really, I could've really used a can opener. Now that our stuff arrived I finally made a full on assault on trying to find our can opener. I'm not sure why I needed the can opener so bad, but I did. Those who know me well, know that I can get like that sometimes [think back to me obsessing in trying to find the lid to the peanut butter as we're trying to pack up camp during a tornado (no exaggeration). The lid just had to be found]. Our can opener was, obviously, in the last place I looked. Unfortunately, out of all the boxes delivered to us, I managed to open every single other box before I got to the can opener. This box was hidden inside another box underneath a pile of pajamas. It must've been one of those random last minute packing boxes where you just haphazardly throw stuff into any open box. At least I finally found it, in the last place I looked.
Maniacs (JPB)
I'm sure most people have seen pictures of, and read the story of the drunk driver in Mexico who plowed into a bicycling group ride (sanctioned event w/ police escorts no less...). If not, I encourage you to read about it here, but be warned the picture is SCARY.
There's a fair amount of controversy revolving around this in cycling forums on the
web. There is an uncropped photo that makes it appear that the police escort dodged out of the way of the oncoming car, leaving the cyclists exposed to the car. That's not a topic worth getting into here, though...
Stuff like this scares the absolute crap out of me. Just yesterday I met a cyclist in the city who rides for Roaring Mouse cycling team. I've heard of Roaring Mouse, but I didn't tell the guy this yesterday, because we were having a good time, and I didn't want to bring down the mood. I've heard of Roaring Mouse because during a training ride a member of their team, and a member of another team were killed by a car. A third cyclist was hit, but lived.
Stuff like that sometimes makes it hard for me to get out the door to go on bike rides. It's a strange cultural thing. As a cyclist, I sometimes forget that the majority of motorists have no idea what I'm doing on the road. Most of them probably think I'm insane. They don't understand it. "Why is this guy decked out in lycra, and riding in the road?" "Doesn't he have a driver's license?" I think most people think that road cyclists are some sort of demented maniacs.
A similar realization came to Marlene and I last weekend when we were camping. The topic of discussion was about cycling kits (cycling outfits, basically). As cyclists, it's kind of fun to get cool cycling gear, including slick looking jerseys and shorts. To us it's cool, and we get the mental image of looking, 'cool' or 'fast' or 'fancy' etc (on top of the performance benefit of such clothing). As the group was talking it came up that, yeah... to the average person we look like tools. OR even worse, they don't see us at all. We go unnoticed. Sometimes as a cyclist you forget that we're a pretty huge minority, and you forget that passing cars probably don't think, "Cool New Mexico flag jersey, dude." or "Wow, that dude is FLYING down that hill." or "That person has decided to adopt a healthy lifestyle." Nope.
I think most people reading this know Marlene and I well enough to know that we once had a run-in with a guy who tried to purposely run us off the road, into the curb in Kingston. It sucked. The thing that's scary is that he had no idea that we had the right to be there, and he probably thought that he did the right thing, and did the rest of traffic a great service by teaching us a valuable lesson. I sometimes shutter to think if he was successful, and we had flown into the curb. Likely over our handlebars. Broken collarbones would probably have been a minimum. The guy had 2 young kids in the car too. Would it be worth it? I'm not talking about us, I'm talking about him. How would he feel if he put us in the hospital, or killed us. Stupid way to prove a point. The man is probably a generally reasonable person. He probably wouldn't shoot a gun over someone's head, just to scare them a little bit during a disagreement, but in a car....nearly killing someone is fine. People tend to lose all rationale behind the wheel.
Cycling is fun to me. It's nice to have a form of exercise that motivates me and keeps me healthy. I just hope it doesn't kill me. I encourage everyone here to go to Yeild to Life and read the info there. It's a foundation set up by David Zabriskie (Joel's a big fan of DZ), a pro-cyclist from Salt Lake City who has been hit by a car on his bicycle 3 times, all in the US. I read the tips for motorists and the tips for cyclists. It's good to get a refresher on this stuff every now and again. If you care enough about us to read our blog, then you probably care about us enough not to hit us or other people like us with your car.
http://yieldtolife.org/tips/cyclists
http://yieldtolife.org/tips/motorists
http://yieldtolife.org/about
This isn't an advertisement for the foundation, and I'm not asking anyone to donate money (I personally haven't either...yet...) but there is good info here.
Just remember:
1)Always drive cautiously and be aware of all your surroundings (not just cyclists)
2)Don't Drink & Drive
3)Hang up and drive
4)Cyclists aren't obstacles, they're lives
5)If you decide to be impatient, and push it with a cyclist, the best case scenario is that you saved a few seconds MAYBE one minute on your transit time. The worst case scenario isn't worth those few seconds.
Preachy time over.
PS: For a little lighter bicycling fare, head to Fat Cyclist and read this story. This guy's blog is great! I would suggest reading more of his stuff while you're there.
There's a fair amount of controversy revolving around this in cycling forums on the
web. There is an uncropped photo that makes it appear that the police escort dodged out of the way of the oncoming car, leaving the cyclists exposed to the car. That's not a topic worth getting into here, though...
Stuff like this scares the absolute crap out of me. Just yesterday I met a cyclist in the city who rides for Roaring Mouse cycling team. I've heard of Roaring Mouse, but I didn't tell the guy this yesterday, because we were having a good time, and I didn't want to bring down the mood. I've heard of Roaring Mouse because during a training ride a member of their team, and a member of another team were killed by a car. A third cyclist was hit, but lived.
Stuff like that sometimes makes it hard for me to get out the door to go on bike rides. It's a strange cultural thing. As a cyclist, I sometimes forget that the majority of motorists have no idea what I'm doing on the road. Most of them probably think I'm insane. They don't understand it. "Why is this guy decked out in lycra, and riding in the road?" "Doesn't he have a driver's license?" I think most people think that road cyclists are some sort of demented maniacs.
A similar realization came to Marlene and I last weekend when we were camping. The topic of discussion was about cycling kits (cycling outfits, basically). As cyclists, it's kind of fun to get cool cycling gear, including slick looking jerseys and shorts. To us it's cool, and we get the mental image of looking, 'cool' or 'fast' or 'fancy' etc (on top of the performance benefit of such clothing). As the group was talking it came up that, yeah... to the average person we look like tools. OR even worse, they don't see us at all. We go unnoticed. Sometimes as a cyclist you forget that we're a pretty huge minority, and you forget that passing cars probably don't think, "Cool New Mexico flag jersey, dude." or "Wow, that dude is FLYING down that hill." or "That person has decided to adopt a healthy lifestyle." Nope.
I think most people reading this know Marlene and I well enough to know that we once had a run-in with a guy who tried to purposely run us off the road, into the curb in Kingston. It sucked. The thing that's scary is that he had no idea that we had the right to be there, and he probably thought that he did the right thing, and did the rest of traffic a great service by teaching us a valuable lesson. I sometimes shutter to think if he was successful, and we had flown into the curb. Likely over our handlebars. Broken collarbones would probably have been a minimum. The guy had 2 young kids in the car too. Would it be worth it? I'm not talking about us, I'm talking about him. How would he feel if he put us in the hospital, or killed us. Stupid way to prove a point. The man is probably a generally reasonable person. He probably wouldn't shoot a gun over someone's head, just to scare them a little bit during a disagreement, but in a car....nearly killing someone is fine. People tend to lose all rationale behind the wheel.
Cycling is fun to me. It's nice to have a form of exercise that motivates me and keeps me healthy. I just hope it doesn't kill me. I encourage everyone here to go to Yeild to Life and read the info there. It's a foundation set up by David Zabriskie (Joel's a big fan of DZ), a pro-cyclist from Salt Lake City who has been hit by a car on his bicycle 3 times, all in the US. I read the tips for motorists and the tips for cyclists. It's good to get a refresher on this stuff every now and again. If you care enough about us to read our blog, then you probably care about us enough not to hit us or other people like us with your car.
http://yieldtolife.org/tips/cyclists
http://yieldtolife.org/tips/motorists
http://yieldtolife.org/about
This isn't an advertisement for the foundation, and I'm not asking anyone to donate money (I personally haven't either...yet...) but there is good info here.
Just remember:
1)Always drive cautiously and be aware of all your surroundings (not just cyclists)
2)Don't Drink & Drive
3)Hang up and drive
4)Cyclists aren't obstacles, they're lives
5)If you decide to be impatient, and push it with a cyclist, the best case scenario is that you saved a few seconds MAYBE one minute on your transit time. The worst case scenario isn't worth those few seconds.
Preachy time over.
PS: For a little lighter bicycling fare, head to Fat Cyclist and read this story. This guy's blog is great! I would suggest reading more of his stuff while you're there.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Ball Game, Stuff, and Job Report (JPB)
Lately it's been pretty hard to blog. Things are starting to make that magical switch from "New and exciting" to "Part of the routine." Funny thing though, is that if I stop and think about it, everything is still new and exciting. It's just that in the Bay Area, I think "new and exciting" is pretty much normal. So it's a weird feeling. It's like being desensitized to having fun. haha. Anyway. We're still totally loving it here, and things are going well. Yesterday was a big day though, so it's time to fire up the ol' Blog-o-roo and blather.
1) Marlene got her first pay check. Yay! First pay checks are great! As someone who once dabbled in employment myself, I feel like an old salt at the job-game with my solid 8 moths of work history, so it was fun for me to watch the, "Yay! I made so much money, wait a second where the hell is all of it? You mean that's all taxes? Really? What for? But... I... It's... You mean...." Then she said, "All that, and you don't even get healthcare?" touche Canada. Touche... As an American, you should learn to never argue with a Canadian about anything, ever. You may think your, winning, and you may think the topic of Coke v. Pepsi is unrelated, but when a Canadian plays the healthcare card, you have no where left to go really. They solidly believe they have displayed a history of being right about important topics, and you go away thinking "well, I like the taste of Pepsi over Coke, but what do I know? I come from a place that doesn't provide healthcare to all people." It's kind of like the "I know you are, but what am I" argument all grown up. Once it's played, you're done. We're happy to have money flowing in all the same though. "New and exciting" isn't always inexpensive.
2)I got a phone call at 10 am saying, "I'm the mover I wanna deliver your stuff. I'll be there in 2 hours." So maybe I didn't understand this properly, but I thought they said they'd give 24 hours notice. I could be hard of hearing though. Maybe they said 2-4 hours notice. No wait.... they typed that to us. It was definitely 24 hrs, not 2-4 hrs. All the same. I don't really care because I was home when he called so no biggie. It also simultaneously gave me something to do and nothing to do. I got to sit around and wait for the movers, instead of going to do anything else productive. So I can say I did something important all day while mostly trying to keep myself entertained on the internet. Hey! You know, that's EXACTLY like a real ("real") job! Anyway. Long story short. We got our stuff delivered. FINALLY! After 1 month of no pots, 1 pan, free furniture from the side of the road, it's exciting to have our stuff. Sure it's all in boxes, but those boxes are packed full of the promise that all of our earthly possessions have to offer. Sure, that promise might be a little dinged around the edges, and maybe a few of the more fragile bits of promise were shattered when a box or two was dropped, but I can be pissed off about that later. As for now I can sit and dream about eating carbohydrates other than potatoes or bread for the first time in a month. Seriously. I think we are going to just pound through pasta for the next few weeks. Can't cook that on the grill, can you? (For those of you assuming I'm dumb enough to try, you're wrong! HA! I win!)
3) Giants vs. Mets. We went to a MLB game last night and had pretty good seats. 10th row up, right in front of the Giants bullpen. About 3/4 of the way up the 3rd baseline. All thanks to Marlene's work. We think we'll be going to a number of games this year, as it was fun, and free (aside from expensive stadium fare). It was a lot of fun. We had a hot dog, and enough peanuts to kill an elephant. I still feel it today. The 1st inning was definitely the most exciting. Giants batted through the entire rotation. The Mets had to pull their starter, and the Giants hit 2 bombs, one of which was the first MLB HR for a young kid. His 3rd at bat ever. Pretty cool. He's now batting .500. After that things mellowed out. I think we left in the 8th inning when it was 10-2 Giants. It was a fun night, but a late one. When all was said and done, we were home at 11:30. Tonight we're going to go out for dinner in the city, as I have to go back to the HSBC to show them my passport. We figure we need to make the most out of my trip downtown.
4) It's official! I'm starting work on June 16th. I got the final thumbs up from the company last night when I checked my email after the game. The exciting part is that on June 18th (yes, that's right, my 3rd day of work) I get to go to Portland, Oregon for training. I'll be there for 2 days. My impression of this job is that I will hit the ground running, and be going the entire time. That's good though, as it will keep me entertained, and keep me going. I get bored REALLY easily. I have a short attention span, as is quite clear from my long rambling blogs. Anyway, what was I talking about? Traveling for business a few days at a time is fun. Traveling for business for an entire month to Houston is not fun, unless your family comes to visit you, and you go to Austin to see them, and you eat at Chuy's. Then it can be fun. It'll be interesting to compare though. I'm pretty sure that environmental consultants don't get to stay at super fancy suites and eat $150 meals every night like the O&G crowd. That's alright with me though. I'll be just has happy staying at a Comfort Inn and eating at Stucky's or Denny's or any of your other high class restaurants ending with the 'long-e' sound that allow you to order any meal smothered in gravy; or Fuddruckers. They're good too.
Well. That rounds out yesterday, dear reader. Now it's time for me to go start unpacking all the promise I was talking about... Not so excited about getting our stuff now, am I... That's ok. I'll intersperse the unpacking with bike riding.
P.S. Hopefully my camera cable will turn up today so I can start posting pictures, and Rik and stop hassling me. They will show up on flickr sometime in the next few hours to days:
http://flickr.com/photos/jpeterb/
1) Marlene got her first pay check. Yay! First pay checks are great! As someone who once dabbled in employment myself, I feel like an old salt at the job-game with my solid 8 moths of work history, so it was fun for me to watch the, "Yay! I made so much money, wait a second where the hell is all of it? You mean that's all taxes? Really? What for? But... I... It's... You mean...." Then she said, "All that, and you don't even get healthcare?" touche Canada. Touche... As an American, you should learn to never argue with a Canadian about anything, ever. You may think your, winning, and you may think the topic of Coke v. Pepsi is unrelated, but when a Canadian plays the healthcare card, you have no where left to go really. They solidly believe they have displayed a history of being right about important topics, and you go away thinking "well, I like the taste of Pepsi over Coke, but what do I know? I come from a place that doesn't provide healthcare to all people." It's kind of like the "I know you are, but what am I" argument all grown up. Once it's played, you're done. We're happy to have money flowing in all the same though. "New and exciting" isn't always inexpensive.
2)I got a phone call at 10 am saying, "I'm the mover I wanna deliver your stuff. I'll be there in 2 hours." So maybe I didn't understand this properly, but I thought they said they'd give 24 hours notice. I could be hard of hearing though. Maybe they said 2-4 hours notice. No wait.... they typed that to us. It was definitely 24 hrs, not 2-4 hrs. All the same. I don't really care because I was home when he called so no biggie. It also simultaneously gave me something to do and nothing to do. I got to sit around and wait for the movers, instead of going to do anything else productive. So I can say I did something important all day while mostly trying to keep myself entertained on the internet. Hey! You know, that's EXACTLY like a real ("real") job! Anyway. Long story short. We got our stuff delivered. FINALLY! After 1 month of no pots, 1 pan, free furniture from the side of the road, it's exciting to have our stuff. Sure it's all in boxes, but those boxes are packed full of the promise that all of our earthly possessions have to offer. Sure, that promise might be a little dinged around the edges, and maybe a few of the more fragile bits of promise were shattered when a box or two was dropped, but I can be pissed off about that later. As for now I can sit and dream about eating carbohydrates other than potatoes or bread for the first time in a month. Seriously. I think we are going to just pound through pasta for the next few weeks. Can't cook that on the grill, can you? (For those of you assuming I'm dumb enough to try, you're wrong! HA! I win!)
3) Giants vs. Mets. We went to a MLB game last night and had pretty good seats. 10th row up, right in front of the Giants bullpen. About 3/4 of the way up the 3rd baseline. All thanks to Marlene's work. We think we'll be going to a number of games this year, as it was fun, and free (aside from expensive stadium fare). It was a lot of fun. We had a hot dog, and enough peanuts to kill an elephant. I still feel it today. The 1st inning was definitely the most exciting. Giants batted through the entire rotation. The Mets had to pull their starter, and the Giants hit 2 bombs, one of which was the first MLB HR for a young kid. His 3rd at bat ever. Pretty cool. He's now batting .500. After that things mellowed out. I think we left in the 8th inning when it was 10-2 Giants. It was a fun night, but a late one. When all was said and done, we were home at 11:30. Tonight we're going to go out for dinner in the city, as I have to go back to the HSBC to show them my passport. We figure we need to make the most out of my trip downtown.
4) It's official! I'm starting work on June 16th. I got the final thumbs up from the company last night when I checked my email after the game. The exciting part is that on June 18th (yes, that's right, my 3rd day of work) I get to go to Portland, Oregon for training. I'll be there for 2 days. My impression of this job is that I will hit the ground running, and be going the entire time. That's good though, as it will keep me entertained, and keep me going. I get bored REALLY easily. I have a short attention span, as is quite clear from my long rambling blogs. Anyway, what was I talking about? Traveling for business a few days at a time is fun. Traveling for business for an entire month to Houston is not fun, unless your family comes to visit you, and you go to Austin to see them, and you eat at Chuy's. Then it can be fun. It'll be interesting to compare though. I'm pretty sure that environmental consultants don't get to stay at super fancy suites and eat $150 meals every night like the O&G crowd. That's alright with me though. I'll be just has happy staying at a Comfort Inn and eating at Stucky's or Denny's or any of your other high class restaurants ending with the 'long-e' sound that allow you to order any meal smothered in gravy; or Fuddruckers. They're good too.
Well. That rounds out yesterday, dear reader. Now it's time for me to go start unpacking all the promise I was talking about... Not so excited about getting our stuff now, am I... That's ok. I'll intersperse the unpacking with bike riding.
P.S. Hopefully my camera cable will turn up today so I can start posting pictures, and Rik and stop hassling me. They will show up on flickr sometime in the next few hours to days:
http://flickr.com/photos/jpeterb/
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Update from the past week (MCV)
We've been really bad with the blogs lately... Sorry. We've been pretty busy and sometimes it's hard to put down in words things that would really be best said with pictures, but I will try. Last weekend we went up the north coast to a place called Russian Gulch, near Mendocino. Pretty much it's a crack in the coast rocks (a fault, I'm positive) with a little creek in the bottom leading to a beach. The camping was great, and the people we camped with were all really nice and welcoming. The weather Saturday wasn't that great so we pretty much sat around the campfire eating, drinking and taking a break to go see the beach. Sunday was much nicer and Joel and I went for a 48k bikeride up the coast. The road was busy but the shoulder was wide and we didn't really have any road related problems until we hit Fort Bragg (another Fort Bragg) where they had chewed up the pavement to repave. Oh yeah, it feels like nothing in a car, but I was sure my head was going to rattle right off my neck! Otherwise, we found a nice bike path right along the coast to ride on and enjoy the scenery. The Pacific was remarkably pacific and with the sun and the beaches and rocks it was pretty much picture perfect! Monday we took the long way home driving down along the coast and the scenery was again very beautiful and dramatic, and so was the drive! On some turns I felt like if I leaned over a little I would send us plummeting down a 300m drop to the rocky coast below. Wowsers, not for the faint hearted! We tucked back inland in order to catch the road heading down the Sonoma wine valley to see what it looked like. We stopped at a 'chip truck' that did not sell chips but sold $1.50 tacos instead! Booya! All they need to come up with now is a poutine taco... oh yeah, that'd be awesome!
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We went riding on the bike paths again Thursday evening and managed to put in a decent 20k. Not bad for a weeknight ride. Joel's been riding a lot and may have narrowed down on the bike he wants to buy. Now all we need is for the tax return money to get put into the bank account so he can get it. As for me, work is work. It's funny, as much as I like my work, it's still just that: work. It's the thing that work both allows me to do the things I like and gets in the way of doing the things I like. Hum. Oh well, like I said, days like today make it all worth while. Now I just need to get into contact with the guy who runs the wind machine to tell him to turn it down when I want to go riding! Ha! Yesterday we went into Oakland (what went into Oakland? Why????) to meet up with some friends who live in El Sobrante (actually not too far from where we biked today) and visit Jack London Square. There's a bar there that is a old whaling ship that they beached and turned into a saloon in 1883!! Jack London apparently drank there! It's called Heinold's first and last chance saloon and is apparently (and I agree) the only thing worth seeing in Oakland. We had a few of their finest (outside because they only have three tables inside!!!) then headed into Oakland to test out a Chinese restaurant our friends had found. It was tasty! We must have ordered about 10 different dishes, and 6 of us ate it all! Let's just say it was carbo-loading for our ride today. Yes. And that brings us to today, which I have already covered. I think we're all caught up now. It'll be interesting to see what next weekend brings us: we severely need to clean the house, but when it's nice out and the bike calls... what can you do?
Oh and by the way, Joel accepted the job offer and his vacation will sadly end June 16. We're really happy with the offer but sad that we can't be a single income family and still live the way we want to. Maybe we'll win the lottery. Like everyone else!
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We went riding on the bike paths again Thursday evening and managed to put in a decent 20k. Not bad for a weeknight ride. Joel's been riding a lot and may have narrowed down on the bike he wants to buy. Now all we need is for the tax return money to get put into the bank account so he can get it. As for me, work is work. It's funny, as much as I like my work, it's still just that: work. It's the thing that work both allows me to do the things I like and gets in the way of doing the things I like. Hum. Oh well, like I said, days like today make it all worth while. Now I just need to get into contact with the guy who runs the wind machine to tell him to turn it down when I want to go riding! Ha! Yesterday we went into Oakland (what went into Oakland? Why????) to meet up with some friends who live in El Sobrante (actually not too far from where we biked today) and visit Jack London Square. There's a bar there that is a old whaling ship that they beached and turned into a saloon in 1883!! Jack London apparently drank there! It's called Heinold's first and last chance saloon and is apparently (and I agree) the only thing worth seeing in Oakland. We had a few of their finest (outside because they only have three tables inside!!!) then headed into Oakland to test out a Chinese restaurant our friends had found. It was tasty! We must have ordered about 10 different dishes, and 6 of us ate it all! Let's just say it was carbo-loading for our ride today. Yes. And that brings us to today, which I have already covered. I think we're all caught up now. It'll be interesting to see what next weekend brings us: we severely need to clean the house, but when it's nice out and the bike calls... what can you do?
Oh and by the way, Joel accepted the job offer and his vacation will sadly end June 16. We're really happy with the offer but sad that we can't be a single income family and still live the way we want to. Maybe we'll win the lottery. Like everyone else!
Biking in Briones (MCV)
We went on a little bike ride today. It was really fabulous. I put a map of it on the blog, but if you click the link, you can also go see the interactive map that shows you the elevation profile too (it's a toggle on the bottom edge of the interactive map). It was about 50k and included a few climbs that, for me the weekend warrior and out of bike shape from the winter, was pretty tough. I was pooped at the end and had a pretty hard time with the headwind (pretty much all the way along Pablo Dam Road). So we left from home and missed Castro ranch road, ended up in Pinole and had to double back to get to the Orinda BART station to take us back to the WC. The first climb we did: Pig Farm Hill was a good grind but we stopped at the top to look around and for me to savour our achievement before bombing down the other side. The second climb up Pablo Dam Road was the perfect pitch that we had to grind a bit, but didn't feel like we were ripping our legs off, which after nearly 40k of riding, would have sucked! The scenery up in Briones is really beautiful: dun coloured grass with dark green oaks in the rills and valleys. It's so incredible to think that we are surrounded by a city of several million people, but within 5k of our house we're in ranch and conservation land. I gotta say, there are so many pluses to living out here. We saw quite a few other riders out but since we started out pretty late today, I think the biking rush was over. The cars in general were really courteous and a lot of the busy roads had really wide bike lanes or shoulders so all in all it's a great area to ride. Tomorrow it's back to work, but a day like today makes it all worth while!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Job Offer (JPB)
Just a quick note to let people know that I got a job offer from my job interview last week. It's a nice offer, so we'll be deciding on that 'round the camp fire in Mendocino this weekend. Have a good weekend everyone!
P.S. If there is a fire ban, we won't be deciding 'round the campfire, but just 'round the nothing, I suppose.
P.S. If there is a fire ban, we won't be deciding 'round the campfire, but just 'round the nothing, I suppose.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Black Widows (JPB)
I've had the pleasure of "terminating" 2 black widows today. Lucky for Marlene I didn't catch either of them with their egg sacks and keep them in a mason jar on my dresser until the eggs hatched and I had a million-gajillion baby black widows. Nope, I got that out of my system on my mom's watch.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Bike Path (JPB)
For those of you wondering about the most important part of Marlene's post (the bike ride part, for those of you wondering about which part you are to be wondering), I did 45 km on the bike path yesterday, and could've done more. It's a pretty extensive network. The downside is that those 45 kms were done at an avg speed of 20 kmh. There are A LOT of stop signs, road crossings, "drafting" behind pedestrians, making sure people reel in their dogs, etc. The good news is that I think it will be a really easy way to get out of town on the bike with minimal traffic hassle. Plus I have a really bad habit of burning matches fighting through traffic and stuff in town, so that by the time I get to the "real" riding, I've gone too hard instead of warming up. In addition to the coyote we saw today (we're 100% certain it was, in fact, NOT some geese), I saw 2 deer yesterday. There are also a lot of ducks (mallards) that have a bad habit of taking mid-afternoon naps directly on the bike path. Unfortunately, they don't wake up if you quack at them when you ride by. Fortunately, other users of the bike trail are likely to be highly amused by a grown man in tights, quacking as he rides his bike.
Well my days as the house husband have gone pretty well. The rear derailleur on Marlene's commuter bike is stonewalling me though. Grrr.... We'll do battle again tomorrow though. If I can't get it worked out, I may give up and go get a conversion kit to turn the thing into a fixie, which without the rear derailleur really working, that's kinda what it is anyway. I've also been watching the Giro d'Italia on the internet. I have Italian TV with British radio coverage, although listening to the Italian announcers is pretty fun too. Everything in Italian sounds like an argument, and they end everything with the letter 'A,' like, "italian-stuff-italian-stuff-italian-stuff-Mark-A-Cavendish-A-
italian-stuff-italian-stuff-Quick-A-Step-A-italian-stuff-italian-stuff"
The vegetable garden is doing well. I figure we'll get our first round of chiles (serranos) in about 2 weeks. Anaheims will take a bit longer. We also now have our first tomato flower, so tomates aren't too far behind. I already harvested a bunch of herbs to put in the lamb kebabs I made yesterday (ground lamb, salt, mint, parsley, cilantro... all fresh...except maybe the salt depending on your definition of the word 'fresh'). Morning glories and sunflowers are both coming through the surface, so once they really get cracking it'll help with better backyard fence privacy. The flower box in the front yard started with an awesome bang, but they're taking a little prettiness intermission right now (read: oh crap! I hope they're not dying!). We also have a patch of lavender in the front that's starting to come up. Considering that our town is full of rosemary and lavender hedges, I'm not too worried about the lavender.
A lot of folks have been asking me about my job interview too. It went really well. I could see myself working with this company, and it would allow me to stay in the geology field for a little bit longer. They have flexible work options and such, so that's really good. They called me today, and I'm supposed to expect to hear back from them by the end of this week. We'll see. We're also going camping this weekend to Mendocino county. Should be fun. We'll be making new friends with some of the folks Marlene works with. Welp. That's about it. It's nice to be back on the bike lots. I've been 3 days in a row now. I'll be out again tomorrow, then it'll probably be time to call roto-rooter again, to see if they can come take care of our roots in the sewer problem. (BLAST!). I've also been studying up on investment options for 401K. Anyone who refuses to use the 'R' word for our economy is insane. Every single stock option is down a fair amount for this year. Some of them are already down in Q1 of this year the same amount as the worst years in their record, but I'm no economist (I decided to study a real science, although Ross, the physicist, may beg to differ). Maybe someone should send me a stimulus check, I don't think anyone would argue with that...
Well my days as the house husband have gone pretty well. The rear derailleur on Marlene's commuter bike is stonewalling me though. Grrr.... We'll do battle again tomorrow though. If I can't get it worked out, I may give up and go get a conversion kit to turn the thing into a fixie, which without the rear derailleur really working, that's kinda what it is anyway. I've also been watching the Giro d'Italia on the internet. I have Italian TV with British radio coverage, although listening to the Italian announcers is pretty fun too. Everything in Italian sounds like an argument, and they end everything with the letter 'A,' like, "italian-stuff-italian-stuff-italian-stuff-Mark-A-Cavendish-A-
italian-stuff-italian-stuff-Quick-A-Step-A-italian-stuff-italian-stuff"
The vegetable garden is doing well. I figure we'll get our first round of chiles (serranos) in about 2 weeks. Anaheims will take a bit longer. We also now have our first tomato flower, so tomates aren't too far behind. I already harvested a bunch of herbs to put in the lamb kebabs I made yesterday (ground lamb, salt, mint, parsley, cilantro... all fresh...except maybe the salt depending on your definition of the word 'fresh'). Morning glories and sunflowers are both coming through the surface, so once they really get cracking it'll help with better backyard fence privacy. The flower box in the front yard started with an awesome bang, but they're taking a little prettiness intermission right now (read: oh crap! I hope they're not dying!). We also have a patch of lavender in the front that's starting to come up. Considering that our town is full of rosemary and lavender hedges, I'm not too worried about the lavender.
A lot of folks have been asking me about my job interview too. It went really well. I could see myself working with this company, and it would allow me to stay in the geology field for a little bit longer. They have flexible work options and such, so that's really good. They called me today, and I'm supposed to expect to hear back from them by the end of this week. We'll see. We're also going camping this weekend to Mendocino county. Should be fun. We'll be making new friends with some of the folks Marlene works with. Welp. That's about it. It's nice to be back on the bike lots. I've been 3 days in a row now. I'll be out again tomorrow, then it'll probably be time to call roto-rooter again, to see if they can come take care of our roots in the sewer problem. (BLAST!). I've also been studying up on investment options for 401K. Anyone who refuses to use the 'R' word for our economy is insane. Every single stock option is down a fair amount for this year. Some of them are already down in Q1 of this year the same amount as the worst years in their record, but I'm no economist (I decided to study a real science, although Ross, the physicist, may beg to differ). Maybe someone should send me a stimulus check, I don't think anyone would argue with that...
Hump Day (MCV)
Well, here we are, mid-week and I'm already exhausted....
Things are going well with work, I'm finally feeling like I'm doing something. Today I met with my project supervisor and we talked about the project for about an hour. I had lots of questions and comments on the report I read and I think he was happy to see I was able to jump right into it. He assigned me to draw sketches of anticipated rock behaviour to put in the design plans. It'll help the contractor get a visual idea of what to expect and if we find that it works out, I imagine we'll be able to keep these in our reportoire. (geotechs: it's something like the little images in the GSI classification, only with a tunnel cross section showing types of failure). I'm happy with it. I did the sketches today and tomorrow I'll show them to my supervisor before drafting them in Corel. And everyone is really friendly and trying hard to make me feel at home, so that's really great. I think it's a good group of people.
As for non-work stuff. Having Joel at home is really nice because he makes my lunch, makes my coffee and gets breakfast ready so I can be out the door with lots of time. It helps so much! I don't know what I'm going to do when he goes back to work... and he made an incredible dinner last night, the leftovers of which we will enjoy shortly!
As I was walking to the catch the train after work today I got to see what San Fran traffic looks like: not pretty! Cars all over, not moving, and the honking! At first I thought people were just honking for fun, like having a car horn conversation or something, but then I realised that was just silly and they were probably actually honking thinking it would make things go faster... silly drivers, the train is best! I left work a little later today and boy was that a mistake! The train was full and I didn't get a seat until two stops before mine. Mental note: leave work earlier!
We went for a bikeride after work (hence dinner at 8) in the area. Oh my god... this is such a great place to live! We had a 300m ride to the nearest bike path that follows the county canal (drinking water I think) for lord knows how long. There were quite a few walkers and streets to cross but as we kept riding east it thinned out and we could ride a little faster. We rode up a small (but steep!) hill and at the top there was a coyote with dinner in his mouth! He continued running up the hill and we saw him for quite a while. That was pretty amazing!
Well, dinner is served! Thanks to everyone who's still keeping up with the blog! Kathy I promise I'll call you soon!
Things are going well with work, I'm finally feeling like I'm doing something. Today I met with my project supervisor and we talked about the project for about an hour. I had lots of questions and comments on the report I read and I think he was happy to see I was able to jump right into it. He assigned me to draw sketches of anticipated rock behaviour to put in the design plans. It'll help the contractor get a visual idea of what to expect and if we find that it works out, I imagine we'll be able to keep these in our reportoire. (geotechs: it's something like the little images in the GSI classification, only with a tunnel cross section showing types of failure). I'm happy with it. I did the sketches today and tomorrow I'll show them to my supervisor before drafting them in Corel. And everyone is really friendly and trying hard to make me feel at home, so that's really great. I think it's a good group of people.
As for non-work stuff. Having Joel at home is really nice because he makes my lunch, makes my coffee and gets breakfast ready so I can be out the door with lots of time. It helps so much! I don't know what I'm going to do when he goes back to work... and he made an incredible dinner last night, the leftovers of which we will enjoy shortly!
As I was walking to the catch the train after work today I got to see what San Fran traffic looks like: not pretty! Cars all over, not moving, and the honking! At first I thought people were just honking for fun, like having a car horn conversation or something, but then I realised that was just silly and they were probably actually honking thinking it would make things go faster... silly drivers, the train is best! I left work a little later today and boy was that a mistake! The train was full and I didn't get a seat until two stops before mine. Mental note: leave work earlier!
We went for a bikeride after work (hence dinner at 8) in the area. Oh my god... this is such a great place to live! We had a 300m ride to the nearest bike path that follows the county canal (drinking water I think) for lord knows how long. There were quite a few walkers and streets to cross but as we kept riding east it thinned out and we could ride a little faster. We rode up a small (but steep!) hill and at the top there was a coyote with dinner in his mouth! He continued running up the hill and we saw him for quite a while. That was pretty amazing!
Well, dinner is served! Thanks to everyone who's still keeping up with the blog! Kathy I promise I'll call you soon!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The moment for which we've all been waiting (JPB)
You're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition.....
Loooooooooooove yoooooouuuuuuuuuuu
(I'm a dead man)
Loooooooooooove yoooooouuuuuuuuuuu
(I'm a dead man)
Monday, May 19, 2008
The moment we've all been waiting for (MCV)
Well, here it is, the moment all of this has been leading to: my first day of work. First off, I was hoping it would be shorter, but my commute really is one hour. Each way. I stand by it, I still really like Walnut Creek.
So those of you who got a description of my interview (let's put you in a different office with another person who will describe to you in detail what he does) this was a similar but shortened version. I'm exhausted from saying "nice to meet you too" and "thank you" and smiling to about 50 people. It's all very friendly, though.
I got the lowdown on US health insurance and employment and whatnot. It'll take a while to get used to. I also got a taste for the social insurance system... wow... I thought the DMV was full of random miscreants.... Ha! (Nat you know what I'm talking about!) The SSN office makes the DMV look like a country club, I mean there was a guy talking and singing to himself and a guy with a catheter tube wrapped around his leg. I hope I never have to sit in that place again. Oh and my number won't come for two weeks... and I can't get paid without my number... so I guess we're living off our retirement funds for another month and a half!
The job looks like it will be good, though. My supervisor is a rock guy and really laid back and I think we'll get along just fine. He's my go-to guy. My supervisor for the project I'm working on is apparently the most stressed-out guy in the whole company, so that should be interesting. All the same (for you geo-people) I'm currently working on the final phase of the geotechnical baseline report for a major highway tunnel, which is awesome! It's awesome because it's interesting to me (ties in nicely with the type of stuff I did for my PhD) and I can just dive into it because it's really similar to the stuff I did for my PhD. Ummmm geo documents, rock mass classes, excavation and support classes... I looooooove you!
I also think my fellow staff engineers will be great. Pretty much we all seem to be between 25 and 35. Two of the girls took be out for 'welcome to the company' beers after work and gave me the background information on the company that they don't tell you in your interview. It was really helpful and great to see that there are social and interesting people who work there.
Other than that, Joel dropped me off and picked me up from the BART station today, which was really great. He also put a toonie in my pocket so I would feel it whenever I put my hands in my pockets and know that he was thinking of me. I think I'll try to really head out on my own tomorrow and bike to BART, but we'll see... maybe I can ride out Joel's generosity one more day.
Hopefully tomorrow is more relaxed and 'real work'-ish and hopefully I can figure out how to work my office phone so I can call Joel. Oh, and colleagues and clients and stuff too... right...
So, that's it for the first day: tired, but happy, and looking forward to relaxing with Joel on our free sofa chairs.
So those of you who got a description of my interview (let's put you in a different office with another person who will describe to you in detail what he does) this was a similar but shortened version. I'm exhausted from saying "nice to meet you too" and "thank you" and smiling to about 50 people. It's all very friendly, though.
I got the lowdown on US health insurance and employment and whatnot. It'll take a while to get used to. I also got a taste for the social insurance system... wow... I thought the DMV was full of random miscreants.... Ha! (Nat you know what I'm talking about!) The SSN office makes the DMV look like a country club, I mean there was a guy talking and singing to himself and a guy with a catheter tube wrapped around his leg. I hope I never have to sit in that place again. Oh and my number won't come for two weeks... and I can't get paid without my number... so I guess we're living off our retirement funds for another month and a half!
The job looks like it will be good, though. My supervisor is a rock guy and really laid back and I think we'll get along just fine. He's my go-to guy. My supervisor for the project I'm working on is apparently the most stressed-out guy in the whole company, so that should be interesting. All the same (for you geo-people) I'm currently working on the final phase of the geotechnical baseline report for a major highway tunnel, which is awesome! It's awesome because it's interesting to me (ties in nicely with the type of stuff I did for my PhD) and I can just dive into it because it's really similar to the stuff I did for my PhD. Ummmm geo documents, rock mass classes, excavation and support classes... I looooooove you!
I also think my fellow staff engineers will be great. Pretty much we all seem to be between 25 and 35. Two of the girls took be out for 'welcome to the company' beers after work and gave me the background information on the company that they don't tell you in your interview. It was really helpful and great to see that there are social and interesting people who work there.
Other than that, Joel dropped me off and picked me up from the BART station today, which was really great. He also put a toonie in my pocket so I would feel it whenever I put my hands in my pockets and know that he was thinking of me. I think I'll try to really head out on my own tomorrow and bike to BART, but we'll see... maybe I can ride out Joel's generosity one more day.
Hopefully tomorrow is more relaxed and 'real work'-ish and hopefully I can figure out how to work my office phone so I can call Joel. Oh, and colleagues and clients and stuff too... right...
So, that's it for the first day: tired, but happy, and looking forward to relaxing with Joel on our free sofa chairs.
Hills That Kill Me
I'm a wuss. Actually, I think I'm trying to jump into the cycling "season" head first. See... the weather in California is such that the biking season here has been going on for awhile. So I feel like I have to be on par with the weather, when in reality, I've been on my bike a grand total of 3 times now (counting today, and last week) in 2008. Anyway. What does this have to do with my daily routine? Marlene started work today. That means that I need to start up some sort of routine. Seeing as how I'm pretty sure that I've gained back most of the 10-15 lbs (depending on when I started counting) I lost while in Calgary since we moved here (thank you lack of gym and abundance of burritos) I've decided that I will start biking while she's at work, and also do the household chores. So I found a road today that was a pretty sustained climb, and just off the "regular" route. And by regular I mean the route that we did last time and we plan to use fairly often. Yes, we did plan this route as our "regular" route before we even moved here.... For today's adventure I used 'street view' and 'terrain' on google maps. If you don't have street view in your area, then I feel very sorry for you. It's the best thing in the world in my opinion (at the moment). Anyway. For the first time in my life I had to give up (on a cycling related thing, I've given up lots of other times). At first I went through all of the, "I suck so bad, I'll never be able to this, that, and the other. Why do I bother," but then I came to my senses and realized I need to ease into things a bit. Plus, not only would this road be hard for me cause I haven't been biking all year (besides on stationary trainers), I think it would be hard for me if I had put in a decent season in Kingston or Calgary because it's longer and steeper than the rides I typically would do. Anyway. You may be wondering why I'm blathering on about all this crap, and why I think you'd be interested. Mostly I don't expect people to be interested, but I figure if I write stuff like this down, it means I can't give up. If I say I want to ride Mt. Diablo in a respectable time in the fall, and I write it here, then I'll be more likely to hold myself to that, cause right now, after today's ride, I'm thinking that sounds down right impossible.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Deleted....
For some reason, I had a duplicate post. I'm not smart enough to figure out how to remove a post, so instead you get to read this. Hope you are enjoying it. Are you enjoying it? Good. Well... guess I better go check on the grill. Thanks for reading. It makes me happy to know that you are enjoying reading this post. My guess is that by now you're asking yourself, "Why I am I still reading this?" That's good, because I'm starting to ask myself "Why am I still writing this?" Marlene just came in and asked, "How's your blog?" That's a good question. How IS my blog? If the fact that you are still reading is any measure of how my blog is, than I guess I'd say it's pretty good. Guess that depends on what kind of person you are though. If you are a good person, then it probably means that my blog is good. If you are a bad person, then it means it creeps me out that you find my blog entertaining. Bad people are bad. Ok.... I'm done. (hopefully you are too, cause you should've been done a long time ago).
Roto-Rooter to the Rescyoo
It's Sunday night before Marlene's first day at work. Sewage is coming out of drains in our house. We're sitting waiting for Roto-Rooter. Time to fire up the bbq and sit in the backyard. Yay house! I hope this can be solved with simple plumbery and not complicated trenchery. That can of chemicals to clear root-obstructions that was high on a shelf when we moved in is now haunting me....
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Velo
I forgot to mention that we took a break from the madness to go on our first bike ride. Lots of hills. Lots of quiet country roads by our house too. THAT is why we decided to live out here. In Calgary we were neck deep in the city. If you wanted quiet roads to bike on, you pretty much had to drive, or do 3/4 of your bike ride through the city. Here, it's quiet neighborhood roads for about 5k (max) then nice windy hilly country roads. It was fantastic, and makes us excited for more riding. The other thing is that the busiest road has (GASP!) a BIKE LANE! The other thing that's nice are the copious amounts of "Share the Road" signs. We even had numerous cars yield the right of way to us. In the past, the only time that happened it was usually followed by a middle finger and a horn. It was a pleasant experience (this bike ride, not the middle fingers and horns). I think enough people here bike that it's not a foreign thing for people to see a grown man in tights playing in the street on his bicycle. I don't think anything is a foreign thing in California (except foreign drivers licenses; out of state vehicles; Canadian money; Canadians; maybe 'foreign' wasn't the best choice of words there....). I saw a discombobulated grown man in Concord walking around wearing old boxing headgear and a chain around his neck (think "I need this chain to pull them stumps outta the ground with my TRUCK" type chain, not "I am wearing this gold chain because it adds a little flash to my chest hair" type chain).
Marlene went for a run this morning, and discovered the closest entry point for the little paved pedestrian-bike trail. Yes. It's all becoming clear that our little plan is working. We can do city stuff when we want (downtown WC, or BART into SF), but for everyday ease of bike riding, running, enjoying not being in a major metropolis, our place will be just fine. Plus we really like our house, and yard, and garden.
Marlene went for a run this morning, and discovered the closest entry point for the little paved pedestrian-bike trail. Yes. It's all becoming clear that our little plan is working. We can do city stuff when we want (downtown WC, or BART into SF), but for everyday ease of bike riding, running, enjoying not being in a major metropolis, our place will be just fine. Plus we really like our house, and yard, and garden.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
DMV
For the past few days we've been occupying our time at the DMV. Good ol' DMV. First for operators licenses. We knew that the truck needed a smog test (which I didn't have done yet) so we figured we'd go try to get our operator licenses, and get info about registering the truck. Basically though, bringing a car into Cali, you have to jump on the registration right away. So Marlene started the process for her license, and I got to drive the truck around and wait in the "verification" line. The verification line consisted of exactly one 1998 Ford Ranger with a mis-matched camper shell (i.e. Me). I got to sit in my car, in the sun, waiting for them to come out (I checked if I could wait inside, nope), and it was 90F/30C out. It was fun... I'd turn the car on for a blast of air every now and again. Finally a lady came out and wrote down the VIN number and we were done....
So I returned inside and Marlene is nowhere to be found... I took my number and began waiting to finish the truck registration and to get my license. I eventually spot Marlene sitting close to the test-waiting area. Hmm.... does not bode well for Canadian driver license holders.....
When my number comes up, the fun continues. Of course I don't have the smog test, but I got kinda thrown into the car registration (if you move to California, you have only a finite amount of time to register your car, not a big deal if you know this, and aren't dumb enough to put the date you really entered the state, thereby screwing yourself into having to register in an emergency...) The other kicker is that my title has DGVW (declared gross vehicle weight). This weight means nothing to the Great State of California. Your title has to say "Unlaiden weight" Here's where I have a problem. So is gross vehicle weight not presumably an 'unlaiden weight?' I don't know many car manufacturers who fill their cars with gravel, write that down as the DGVW, empty the gravel, then sell you the car. Maybe it's been done, and I'm seeing the world through rose colored glasses, but in any case this is a problem for me. I also learned that pickup trucks are commercial vehicles in California because they have the possibility of being used as such. I think that all Crown Victorias, should therefore be registered as Cop cars, other passenger cars registered as taxis, and all 15 passenger vans as nursing home transportation vehicles. Give me a freaking break!
Anyway. At the end of DMV day 1. Marlene took the written test, and was told she has to take the driving test too. Having a Canadian drivers license is as good as never having had a license at all. The earliest available spot for her road test: June 11. Ahh.... her first day off from work for her new job.... As for me, I tossed out that I used to have an NM license. So now I'm waiting for the NM-DMV to fax the CA-DMV my road records, so I can forgo the pleasure of the road test.
Day 2: Today started out by going to the smog test. $90 and 20 nervous minutes later the truck passed with flying colors. (my truck passes everything with flying colors. It's great). Next we drive about 30 minutes to a certified weighmaster (Joe-Blows-Moving-and-Storage) to get the truck weighed. $20 later I get a piece of paper saying my unlaiden weight is 3,220. (220 heavier than the title. I should clean the truck out...). Back at the DMV, the truck finally gets registered ($111 later) but this is the best: As I am registering the truck I was asked, "Will you be using the vehicle as a pick up truck?" Ummmmmmmm....... Let me think... "No. I will be using it as a 4 door sedan, no! no! an airplane, or a rocket ship. No! A TIME MACHINE!!!" It's a pickup truck lady! What the hell am I supposed to say? So I told the lady we just drive it like a regular car, and promised not to haul things GAH! (good thing I already got my chairs). So the truck is registered. Sad day. Bye bye NM plates. We had a good, long, marginally lawful run, but now we must assimilate into the country of California. Oh. And I still don't have my CA license. The NM-DMV never faxed the CA-DMV my records, so hurry up and wait (that is what the DMV is about, no?).
Now I'm no more prepared for my job interview on Friday, and the paper work I was supposed to submit beforehand is still not submitted (that's next). Marlene starts work on Monday, and then I'll be Mr. Mom, wrapping up the few things we don't get to before she starts work. It'll be a fair advantage to my job situation. That's the update from this end. Oh... and it's hot and getting hotter...
So I returned inside and Marlene is nowhere to be found... I took my number and began waiting to finish the truck registration and to get my license. I eventually spot Marlene sitting close to the test-waiting area. Hmm.... does not bode well for Canadian driver license holders.....
When my number comes up, the fun continues. Of course I don't have the smog test, but I got kinda thrown into the car registration (if you move to California, you have only a finite amount of time to register your car, not a big deal if you know this, and aren't dumb enough to put the date you really entered the state, thereby screwing yourself into having to register in an emergency...) The other kicker is that my title has DGVW (declared gross vehicle weight). This weight means nothing to the Great State of California. Your title has to say "Unlaiden weight" Here's where I have a problem. So is gross vehicle weight not presumably an 'unlaiden weight?' I don't know many car manufacturers who fill their cars with gravel, write that down as the DGVW, empty the gravel, then sell you the car. Maybe it's been done, and I'm seeing the world through rose colored glasses, but in any case this is a problem for me. I also learned that pickup trucks are commercial vehicles in California because they have the possibility of being used as such. I think that all Crown Victorias, should therefore be registered as Cop cars, other passenger cars registered as taxis, and all 15 passenger vans as nursing home transportation vehicles. Give me a freaking break!
Anyway. At the end of DMV day 1. Marlene took the written test, and was told she has to take the driving test too. Having a Canadian drivers license is as good as never having had a license at all. The earliest available spot for her road test: June 11. Ahh.... her first day off from work for her new job.... As for me, I tossed out that I used to have an NM license. So now I'm waiting for the NM-DMV to fax the CA-DMV my road records, so I can forgo the pleasure of the road test.
Day 2: Today started out by going to the smog test. $90 and 20 nervous minutes later the truck passed with flying colors. (my truck passes everything with flying colors. It's great). Next we drive about 30 minutes to a certified weighmaster (Joe-Blows-Moving-and-Storage) to get the truck weighed. $20 later I get a piece of paper saying my unlaiden weight is 3,220. (220 heavier than the title. I should clean the truck out...). Back at the DMV, the truck finally gets registered ($111 later) but this is the best: As I am registering the truck I was asked, "Will you be using the vehicle as a pick up truck?" Ummmmmmmm....... Let me think... "No. I will be using it as a 4 door sedan, no! no! an airplane, or a rocket ship. No! A TIME MACHINE!!!" It's a pickup truck lady! What the hell am I supposed to say? So I told the lady we just drive it like a regular car, and promised not to haul things GAH! (good thing I already got my chairs). So the truck is registered. Sad day. Bye bye NM plates. We had a good, long, marginally lawful run, but now we must assimilate into the country of California. Oh. And I still don't have my CA license. The NM-DMV never faxed the CA-DMV my records, so hurry up and wait (that is what the DMV is about, no?).
Now I'm no more prepared for my job interview on Friday, and the paper work I was supposed to submit beforehand is still not submitted (that's next). Marlene starts work on Monday, and then I'll be Mr. Mom, wrapping up the few things we don't get to before she starts work. It'll be a fair advantage to my job situation. That's the update from this end. Oh... and it's hot and getting hotter...
Monday, May 12, 2008
Week Number 1 (JPB)
Today is the one week mark of when we made it to Walnut Creek. It is also the day that marks getting a home phone and home interwebs. Therefore, I am blogging from the comfort of one of my free leather chairs (Craigslist special: you move 'em, you can have 'em. Get mad and drop some f-bombs driving around to find the place that has 'em. Then scratch the back of your truck with 'em, and drive through town with the tail gate down and one little piece of cotton (coton) rope holding 'em. Then scratch the back of your truck with 'em (reprise). Then scratch your hard wood floor with 'em. Then go to Target to get cleaner for 'em. Then clean 'em. Then blog in 'em. Yes, THAT craigslist).
Where was I? I was writing something. Right! A Blog entry. So like I was saying. We've been here a week. So far it's been like a MasterCard commercial:
Table on side of the road on garbage night: $0.00
2 Leather chairs from craigslist: $0.00 (minus damages)
Wedding ring from guy on side of the road: $7.00 (plus about half an hour of chatting about the 'economy' with the guy)
Seeing guy at pier drinking large can of beer from paper bag that he set down next to an empty prescription bottle: $0.00
Using MasterCard to buy a bunch of other stuff that you didn't know you ever needed, but suddenly realized (realised) you couldn't live without: Well... I'm not sure how much, but it's a lot.
So maybe it's not like the mastercard commercials, cause I never said 'priceless.' I could have said it for the the things that didn't cost anything, but that's in the past now. We'll just say the whole situation was priceless. There. Happy?
So this is the part of the move where one goes on the rant about how moving is expensive. "Oh yeah! We need a knife. Oh yeah! We need hooks to hang paintings. Oh yeah! We need dish cloths." And so on. We even moved half bags of flour (several varieties) Half bottles of vinegar. Herbs, spices. A scanner we threw away ("E-wasted" as they said at the Thrift Store) when we got here. Everything. We hardly tossed anything so as to avoid the economic sting of arriving at our new digs. Oh well. There's no good way to prepare for that sort of thing. Plus it's kinda fun, and a good way to explore town with lots of errand running. On top of all that spending I'm pretty sure once Marlene starts her job, which should correspond nicely with my Canadian tax refund getting here there shall be a "Oh yeah! I (we) need a carbon fiber Bianchi (in celeste no doubt) with full Dura Ace drivetrain" moment.
Speaking of money. I have a job interview on Fridee that I'm not looking forward to. When the company has forms that are a pain in the tookis to fill out before you even show up, you know that there may be issues with working there. There's nothing that pisses me off more than dealing with forms and ingrained procedure. "well... I understand your problem, but we don't have a box to check that explains that, so I guess we can't accommodate your situation. " Grrr.... It's the problem with large companies. Everything has to follow what I call the "80% rule." They come up with scenarios and situations that work for 80% (or whatever number) of the people. Things cruise along nicely until you hit the few (20%) that don't fit your pre-defined, time saving situations and the whole thing is left in shambles. These forms weren't quite that bad, but it doesn't bode well for future forms, or future situations.
(If you like the 80% rule, ask me about the 100% rule. Ok, fine. Don't ask. 100% of Californians are on their phone 100% of the time, thus 100% of Californians suck at driving. You get extra points of suckdom if you do a "merge-o-text.")
On the bright side, there are 2 bike shops hiring. I could potentially work there during the summer rush (whilst looking for a "real job") and maybe pick up some more wrenching skills so I can take care of our bikes better. I have a feeling that working at a bike shop will be a whole lot more sweeping, putting price tags on stuff, and saying things like, "Yes. The shorts are supposed to be that tight." and "No, the bike with aerobars does not come with a kickstand." than it would be about fun stuff. Whole Foods bakery is also another prime choice cause it would be fun to learn how to make all the cool pastries. But alas, I think that would turn into me loading 50lbs bags of organic flour into giant hoppers all day. I think you have to work your way up to manning the frosting and sprinkles station. That's a lot more responsibility.
I mostly don't want to feel like a dead beat when Marlene goes to work and I am "unemployed" (as one of my bankers likes to say it). Nothing like walking out of the bank to the sound of your banker saying, "Good luck with the job hunt, Joel" Jeez lady, say it loud enough for everyone to hear. You're going to embarrass me in front of the people here who HAVE money. By the way, that's MASTER Joel.
Anyway. I think I was going to actually say something in this blog but in turned into vomit on the page. Welp. That's what you get for blogging at midnight. (We've been going to bed at 8:30 lately). If nothing else, this should keep Roger entertained for awhile. Time to go to bed (which was delivered yesterday. No more floor!)
Where was I? I was writing something. Right! A Blog entry. So like I was saying. We've been here a week. So far it's been like a MasterCard commercial:
Table on side of the road on garbage night: $0.00
2 Leather chairs from craigslist: $0.00 (minus damages)
Wedding ring from guy on side of the road: $7.00 (plus about half an hour of chatting about the 'economy' with the guy)
Seeing guy at pier drinking large can of beer from paper bag that he set down next to an empty prescription bottle: $0.00
Using MasterCard to buy a bunch of other stuff that you didn't know you ever needed, but suddenly realized (realised) you couldn't live without: Well... I'm not sure how much, but it's a lot.
So maybe it's not like the mastercard commercials, cause I never said 'priceless.' I could have said it for the the things that didn't cost anything, but that's in the past now. We'll just say the whole situation was priceless. There. Happy?
So this is the part of the move where one goes on the rant about how moving is expensive. "Oh yeah! We need a knife. Oh yeah! We need hooks to hang paintings. Oh yeah! We need dish cloths." And so on. We even moved half bags of flour (several varieties) Half bottles of vinegar. Herbs, spices. A scanner we threw away ("E-wasted" as they said at the Thrift Store) when we got here. Everything. We hardly tossed anything so as to avoid the economic sting of arriving at our new digs. Oh well. There's no good way to prepare for that sort of thing. Plus it's kinda fun, and a good way to explore town with lots of errand running. On top of all that spending I'm pretty sure once Marlene starts her job, which should correspond nicely with my Canadian tax refund getting here there shall be a "Oh yeah! I (we) need a carbon fiber Bianchi (in celeste no doubt) with full Dura Ace drivetrain" moment.
Speaking of money. I have a job interview on Fridee that I'm not looking forward to. When the company has forms that are a pain in the tookis to fill out before you even show up, you know that there may be issues with working there. There's nothing that pisses me off more than dealing with forms and ingrained procedure. "well... I understand your problem, but we don't have a box to check that explains that, so I guess we can't accommodate your situation. " Grrr.... It's the problem with large companies. Everything has to follow what I call the "80% rule." They come up with scenarios and situations that work for 80% (or whatever number) of the people. Things cruise along nicely until you hit the few (20%) that don't fit your pre-defined, time saving situations and the whole thing is left in shambles. These forms weren't quite that bad, but it doesn't bode well for future forms, or future situations.
(If you like the 80% rule, ask me about the 100% rule. Ok, fine. Don't ask. 100% of Californians are on their phone 100% of the time, thus 100% of Californians suck at driving. You get extra points of suckdom if you do a "merge-o-text.")
On the bright side, there are 2 bike shops hiring. I could potentially work there during the summer rush (whilst looking for a "real job") and maybe pick up some more wrenching skills so I can take care of our bikes better. I have a feeling that working at a bike shop will be a whole lot more sweeping, putting price tags on stuff, and saying things like, "Yes. The shorts are supposed to be that tight." and "No, the bike with aerobars does not come with a kickstand." than it would be about fun stuff. Whole Foods bakery is also another prime choice cause it would be fun to learn how to make all the cool pastries. But alas, I think that would turn into me loading 50lbs bags of organic flour into giant hoppers all day. I think you have to work your way up to manning the frosting and sprinkles station. That's a lot more responsibility.
I mostly don't want to feel like a dead beat when Marlene goes to work and I am "unemployed" (as one of my bankers likes to say it). Nothing like walking out of the bank to the sound of your banker saying, "Good luck with the job hunt, Joel" Jeez lady, say it loud enough for everyone to hear. You're going to embarrass me in front of the people here who HAVE money. By the way, that's MASTER Joel.
Anyway. I think I was going to actually say something in this blog but in turned into vomit on the page. Welp. That's what you get for blogging at midnight. (We've been going to bed at 8:30 lately). If nothing else, this should keep Roger entertained for awhile. Time to go to bed (which was delivered yesterday. No more floor!)
Saturday, May 10, 2008
The Madness is Slowing (MCV)
We were finally able to take some time for ourselves in the past couple of days. Thursday afternoon we planted our little vegetable and herb garden, and by we, I mean, Joel dug up and turned over the rock hard clay soil, and I came in after all the hard work was done to plop the plants into their holes. Here's hoping we get success!
Yesterday we puttered around the house cleaning a bit and Joel installed the smoke detectors. And anyone who knows Joel well enough will know that he measured precisely the location of each detector so that each would be perfectly centered and perfectly straight. Let's call it meticulousness....
In the afternoon we drove up Mount Diablo, the ~1200m (3800 foot) peak that dominates the skyline here and that we aim to ride up with our bikes by the end of the season. The grade is not too steep, but relentlessly goes up for nearly 20km (10-12 miles). We have high hopes that it's doable and we saw several cyclists going up yesterday (who are these people and why are they not at work?).
On our way back down from Diablo we took a wrong turn in a town called Danville and ended up in the most incredible, extravagant, superfluous,... etc. neighbourhood we had ever seen. That's the California you see on tv. Very house had a beat-up pickup truck in front with rakes and mowers sticking out the back. Yeah, these guys don't live there, they're the gardeners! The only reason we fit in with our '98 Ford Ranger was that people probably thought we were gardeners too!
We had our first guests yesterday: Kathryn and Garrett came by yesterday evening and brought us some house warming beers. We only have two chairs so two sat in chairs and two sat on the floor, but it was nice to have friends over in our new place!
Today we're heading out early to San Jose to the flea market to:
- see if we can at least partially furnish our house in a wallet and environmentally friendly way by reusing someone else's furniture.
- try out some of the international fare that is supposed to be very popular at the market
- find fresh local vegetables at the farmer's market section
- see what other interesting things we can find (spanish tiles for our 'stolen' table!)
This will be the farthest south we've driven, should be exciting!
Yesterday we puttered around the house cleaning a bit and Joel installed the smoke detectors. And anyone who knows Joel well enough will know that he measured precisely the location of each detector so that each would be perfectly centered and perfectly straight. Let's call it meticulousness....
In the afternoon we drove up Mount Diablo, the ~1200m (3800 foot) peak that dominates the skyline here and that we aim to ride up with our bikes by the end of the season. The grade is not too steep, but relentlessly goes up for nearly 20km (10-12 miles). We have high hopes that it's doable and we saw several cyclists going up yesterday (who are these people and why are they not at work?).
On our way back down from Diablo we took a wrong turn in a town called Danville and ended up in the most incredible, extravagant, superfluous,... etc. neighbourhood we had ever seen. That's the California you see on tv. Very house had a beat-up pickup truck in front with rakes and mowers sticking out the back. Yeah, these guys don't live there, they're the gardeners! The only reason we fit in with our '98 Ford Ranger was that people probably thought we were gardeners too!
We had our first guests yesterday: Kathryn and Garrett came by yesterday evening and brought us some house warming beers. We only have two chairs so two sat in chairs and two sat on the floor, but it was nice to have friends over in our new place!
Today we're heading out early to San Jose to the flea market to:
- see if we can at least partially furnish our house in a wallet and environmentally friendly way by reusing someone else's furniture.
- try out some of the international fare that is supposed to be very popular at the market
- find fresh local vegetables at the farmer's market section
- see what other interesting things we can find (spanish tiles for our 'stolen' table!)
This will be the farthest south we've driven, should be exciting!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Oh yeah (MCV)
Oh yeah, and in a classic Marlene-Joel move, I bought my wedding ring yesterday from a streetside silver smith. It's a simple silver ring, nice and narrow and it'll look really nice with the engagement ring. It cost $7, which is kind of anti-climactic, but I like it, it's "us".
Marlene's point of view
As Joel mentioned, the past few days have required some major adjustments for me, and except for a minor tantrum yesterday morning and almost crying at the Wells Fargo on Tuesday, I've been holding up pretty well. Joel was being modest when he says he's just been going "bof". He's been really patient and helpful, which is nice because if we were both like me, I think we would have spontaneously combusted...
Have either of us mentioned how many people here have cell phones? If you don't walk around with an earpiece looking like you're talking to yourself, or looking like it's an ear accessory, then you stand out. Oi, I think we're going to take a little while to adjust to that!
Our ride into SF yesterday went really well, it looks like my commute will be just under an hour, but 30-35 minutes of that will be on the train so I can nap. Maybe I can get a sign to put on my forehead saying: wake me at Embarcadero (my stop). It was really nice to walk through a city with a lively downtown again, as Joel called it: a city like you see in the movies. We didn't take too much time to check things out because business called, but since it's such an easy ride in, I can see us going into town relatively often (not counting my daily commute in...).
So Joel was also modest about the BBQ. It's a Weber, the super deluxe version. When we walked into the BBQ store (called Barbeques Galore) we went straight to that one, at which point I leaned over and whispered: "I waaaaaannnnt thaaaaat". It burns charcoal (we bought real Tennesse charcoal, smells like Scotch), but it also runs on propane to get the charcoal going. No lighter fluid, no matches, and it has a built in starter, charcoal bin, BBQ utensil hooks and a prep table. No more walking up to the BBQ with meat etc. in hands and thinking: dang, how do I get the lid off??? We tried it the day after we bought it and just the smell of the burning coals (which blew into the house) made your mouth water, reminded me of BBQ ribs or brisket. With the propane on and the coals going Joel was able to get the temperature in the BBQ over 600F, he maxed out the temperature gauge (which is on the lid). Oh yeah, best BBQ ever! There's a bit of a lead time for the coals to get smoldering, but with the propane starter it takes less than 20 minutes before you can start cooking on it. And did I mention how nice it smells???
As for our other outdoor activities: we bought flowers for a little front garden (which Joel planted at 8am yesterday) and two pepper plants (anaheim and serrrano), three heirloom tomato plants (two San Marzanos and a beefsteak) and herbs: oregano, parsley, basil, peppermint. We've been scoping out the backyard to figure out the best place to plant: the herbs will likely go next to the house, facing east so they get the morning sun, but the peppers and tomatoes is a little tougher because there are trees in the yard that at one point or other in the day case a shadow. But then, if it gets to 100F here, is it really critical for these to be in full, all-day sun? We're not sure... so for the time being they're still in pots. Hopefully we can get to them today.
And clean the house. We've been running around so much these past few days that we've hardly had time to stay around the house much. I did get the kitchen in order, though, so my stress level is reduced, but our bedroom looks like a tornado and a hurricane danced the salsa all over our suitcases.
Alright, more errands are calling, so I'll wrap this up. Like Joel said, we're healthy and happy, and managing to keep our (my) emotions in check. Our number is xxx-xxx-xxxx (Joel edited this out, if you need it, email us) if anyone needs to call us. We'll give out or landline number on Monday once it gets set up.
Have either of us mentioned how many people here have cell phones? If you don't walk around with an earpiece looking like you're talking to yourself, or looking like it's an ear accessory, then you stand out. Oi, I think we're going to take a little while to adjust to that!
Our ride into SF yesterday went really well, it looks like my commute will be just under an hour, but 30-35 minutes of that will be on the train so I can nap. Maybe I can get a sign to put on my forehead saying: wake me at Embarcadero (my stop). It was really nice to walk through a city with a lively downtown again, as Joel called it: a city like you see in the movies. We didn't take too much time to check things out because business called, but since it's such an easy ride in, I can see us going into town relatively often (not counting my daily commute in...).
So Joel was also modest about the BBQ. It's a Weber, the super deluxe version. When we walked into the BBQ store (called Barbeques Galore) we went straight to that one, at which point I leaned over and whispered: "I waaaaaannnnt thaaaaat". It burns charcoal (we bought real Tennesse charcoal, smells like Scotch), but it also runs on propane to get the charcoal going. No lighter fluid, no matches, and it has a built in starter, charcoal bin, BBQ utensil hooks and a prep table. No more walking up to the BBQ with meat etc. in hands and thinking: dang, how do I get the lid off??? We tried it the day after we bought it and just the smell of the burning coals (which blew into the house) made your mouth water, reminded me of BBQ ribs or brisket. With the propane on and the coals going Joel was able to get the temperature in the BBQ over 600F, he maxed out the temperature gauge (which is on the lid). Oh yeah, best BBQ ever! There's a bit of a lead time for the coals to get smoldering, but with the propane starter it takes less than 20 minutes before you can start cooking on it. And did I mention how nice it smells???
As for our other outdoor activities: we bought flowers for a little front garden (which Joel planted at 8am yesterday) and two pepper plants (anaheim and serrrano), three heirloom tomato plants (two San Marzanos and a beefsteak) and herbs: oregano, parsley, basil, peppermint. We've been scoping out the backyard to figure out the best place to plant: the herbs will likely go next to the house, facing east so they get the morning sun, but the peppers and tomatoes is a little tougher because there are trees in the yard that at one point or other in the day case a shadow. But then, if it gets to 100F here, is it really critical for these to be in full, all-day sun? We're not sure... so for the time being they're still in pots. Hopefully we can get to them today.
And clean the house. We've been running around so much these past few days that we've hardly had time to stay around the house much. I did get the kitchen in order, though, so my stress level is reduced, but our bedroom looks like a tornado and a hurricane danced the salsa all over our suitcases.
Alright, more errands are calling, so I'll wrap this up. Like Joel said, we're healthy and happy, and managing to keep our (my) emotions in check. Our number is xxx-xxx-xxxx (Joel edited this out, if you need it, email us) if anyone needs to call us. We'll give out or landline number on Monday once it gets set up.
Settling in, Banking, and Growing Pains (JPB)
Apologies for the delays in posts, now that people are probably most interested. Settling is going along nicely. We scored an awesome solid wood table that we will use as our outside patio/gardening/bbqing table. It was sitting on the side of the road on garbage night, so we swiped it at about 10pm. It's old and beat up, but solid wood, so we'll sand it down, give it a quick coat of some sort of sealant, then let it get weather worn a bit. I think I'll inlay some tile in it as well.
We really enjoy our house. The neighborhood, is so-so, but I think we'll be fine. Behind us is a sketchy-drink-all-day-with-your-shirt-off apartment building, but otherwise it's a nice neighborhood, and the house next door seems to be in the early stages of renovations.
Our current situation has mostly been revolving around banking. For whatever reason (long story...) our landlord wasn't able to immediately cash the cashier's check/money order we sent for May rent. So we've been scrambling trying to figure out why there's a hold on that check, and also trying to get our money from Canada accounts to the US ASAP. The long and the short of it is that it has been very frustrating. Marlene is trying to understand how banking in the US is different from banking in Canada, so I think it's been a little more frustrating for her cause she's been blindsided by some of the issues. I've been trying to approach the situation as "bof!" (as always).
We got a cell phone, which helps a lot, but we're still emailing from Starbucks or La Scalia or wherever else we can get wireless. We've been walking a lot, like we normally do, but we're already settling into the California lifestyle of: "Do you just wanna drive." Only 3 days and we're starting to not walk as much. Part of it is that we have so many errands to run, that walking to all of them, while possible, gets frustrating.
Oh! Yesterday we went to downtown San Fran (we walked to BART then rode in). We had to go for (you guessed it) banking stuff. That's the most convenient HSBC for us here. After we dealt with some banking stuff we went to chinatown for lunch. We ate at Golden Star Vietnamese. I had the "#1." Aka "House Specialty" Aka "Pho" aka "Soup of rice vermicelli, flank steak, beef brisket, beef tendon, beef balls (shape, not anatomy...), and beef tripe." It was pretty good. Very beefy. Definitely a little adventurous. I think it was the 'Menudo' of Vietnam. Marlene had soup and 5-spice chicken. The chicken might be the best I've had. It was really good.
I think that's most of the highlights. I'll be very happy once we're settled. We should have phone and the internets by Monday. We're also supposed to have a bed delivered on Monday, so I think our stress levels will go down when we're off the therm-a-rest method. It'll be nice when the house that we really like, has stuff in it that allows us to fully live there.
No matter how much you plan, you can't every quite pull this sort of thing off seamlessly. There have been a few hiccups, but hopefully in 1-2 weeks time we won't really remember. All I know is that we're healthy, mostly happy (a little worn out), and we've already started a garden. Now I think that's about it. Sitting in Starbucks writing a Blog is a little too cliche for me, so that's it. Peace out.
We really enjoy our house. The neighborhood, is so-so, but I think we'll be fine. Behind us is a sketchy-drink-all-day-with-your-shirt-off apartment building, but otherwise it's a nice neighborhood, and the house next door seems to be in the early stages of renovations.
Our current situation has mostly been revolving around banking. For whatever reason (long story...) our landlord wasn't able to immediately cash the cashier's check/money order we sent for May rent. So we've been scrambling trying to figure out why there's a hold on that check, and also trying to get our money from Canada accounts to the US ASAP. The long and the short of it is that it has been very frustrating. Marlene is trying to understand how banking in the US is different from banking in Canada, so I think it's been a little more frustrating for her cause she's been blindsided by some of the issues. I've been trying to approach the situation as "bof!" (as always).
We got a cell phone, which helps a lot, but we're still emailing from Starbucks or La Scalia or wherever else we can get wireless. We've been walking a lot, like we normally do, but we're already settling into the California lifestyle of: "Do you just wanna drive." Only 3 days and we're starting to not walk as much. Part of it is that we have so many errands to run, that walking to all of them, while possible, gets frustrating.
Oh! Yesterday we went to downtown San Fran (we walked to BART then rode in). We had to go for (you guessed it) banking stuff. That's the most convenient HSBC for us here. After we dealt with some banking stuff we went to chinatown for lunch. We ate at Golden Star Vietnamese. I had the "#1." Aka "House Specialty" Aka "Pho" aka "Soup of rice vermicelli, flank steak, beef brisket, beef tendon, beef balls (shape, not anatomy...), and beef tripe." It was pretty good. Very beefy. Definitely a little adventurous. I think it was the 'Menudo' of Vietnam. Marlene had soup and 5-spice chicken. The chicken might be the best I've had. It was really good.
I think that's most of the highlights. I'll be very happy once we're settled. We should have phone and the internets by Monday. We're also supposed to have a bed delivered on Monday, so I think our stress levels will go down when we're off the therm-a-rest method. It'll be nice when the house that we really like, has stuff in it that allows us to fully live there.
No matter how much you plan, you can't every quite pull this sort of thing off seamlessly. There have been a few hiccups, but hopefully in 1-2 weeks time we won't really remember. All I know is that we're healthy, mostly happy (a little worn out), and we've already started a garden. Now I think that's about it. Sitting in Starbucks writing a Blog is a little too cliche for me, so that's it. Peace out.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
WC, CA
Just a quick note to let people know that Joel bought the world's best charcoal grill in Walnut Creek, CA yesterday. More of the trivial details of the trip to follow later.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Idaho, and so can you! (JPB)
Today's drive wasn't too bad. It mostly reminded me of the section of US HWY 60 that is nestled between the Magdalena mountains, and 'M' mountain in Socorro, except an entire states-worth of that... Tomorrow we make it to WC (Walnut Creek) the agenda:
- Eat burritos from the awesome burrito place I ate at last time (Booya Carnitas)
- Buy a Weber bbq grill
- Go to the bbq supply store and buy charcoal, smoking chips, etc
- Buy consumables
- Burn consumables in a controlled manner on new grill
- Rinse and Repeat
Reprise (MCV)
Just read the comments. I'm so happy people are following us in our adventure! Pour ceux qui nous joignent a partir du Quebec, nous sommes rendus a Reno, Nevada. Ca nous a pris deux essaie pour que je puisse obtenir mon Visa, car il y avait une erreur dans mes documents. Une chance que je me suis servi d'un avocat! Finalement, on c'est rendu aux Etats Unis (legalement!) et on a commence notre aventure. Le Montana etait vraiment super. C'etait comme etre dans un filme: les montagnes, les vallees, les prairies et les rivieres. Il y avait tout sorte de geologie fantastique a observer pendant notre conduite. Nous avons passe la journee hier a Yellowstone, et ca vallait vraiment le detour. L'Idaho m'a desappointe hier, mais ce matin c'etait tres beau. Pas comme le Montana, puisque tout ce qui est plat est en cultivation, mais il y avait du roc volcanique frais (seulement quelques milliers d'annees), et la vallee de la riviere Snake etait fantastique avec ses parois verticales de roc volcanique. Le Nevada etait moins dull que ce que je me souviens. Il y a toujours des montagnes et parce que c'est le desert on peut voir extremement loin. La vue change tout le temps, et il y a meme quelques passes qui sont epeurantes! En approchant Reno nous avons recu de la pluie quie etait plutot de la boue qui tombe du ciel: sans farce, notre voiture est devenu sale avec la pluie! On c'est finalement rendu a Reno, apres presque 1000km aujourd'hui, fatigues et affames... Demain il nous reste que au dessu de 3 heures de route et nous seron rendus a Walnut Creek. Et la commencera notre nouvel etape dans cette aventure!
The Longest Day (MCV)
Today we drove from Idaho Falls, Idaho to Reno, Nevada, almost 1000km... a very long day. I must say, though, Idaho redeemed itself this morning. As it turns out, Idaho has tons of mountains, the interstate just happens to drive right through the flatest part of Idaho. But it gets better: this flat area is flat because it's actually a gigantic volcanic lava flow, probably related to the same hot spot as Yellowstone! In some places (the boring ones) soil has been blown onto the old lava so it's really great for farming, but in other places (the neat ones) you can see 'fresh' lava (basalt for the geos) with sagebrush and alligator juniper growing in the rock blocks. It was so neat! Along the Snake river valley we often encountered deeply incised valleys, with vertical walls of basalt flows. At Twin Falls, right before turning south to Nevada, we stopped at the edge of the Snake river to watch people base jumping off the bridge! Wow, it was incredible, but you would not catch me ever doing that! And all the while, there were snow capped mountains always visible on the horizon, so I guess there ARE mountains in Idaho! Heading south to Nevada we drove down through amazing weathering formations, always with mountains visible on every horizon. Nevada also has a lot more mountains and passes than I remember. It was a more interesting drive than I had been expecting, mostly with some mountain ranges in the distance in all directions and sage brush desert in foreground. Not much to do in Nevada, nor is the scenery very variable, but the ranges come and go and each is slightly different from the others. This area really is big sky country because the lack of anything that grows higher than 3 feet makes it possible to see for 10's of km and see the detail of all the geology going on around us. Tilted sedementary rocks, volcanics, sediments, and one river: the Humboldt. Coming to the end of the Humboldt (it simply dies in a puddle of brackish water in the middle of the desert) was really neat, since there are so few rivers that don't eventually lead to the ocean. Joel added interest to the drive by showing up after a gas stop in Elko (gas was 4.05/gallon for the record) with a fried pie (those of you from the SW will know what those are) and the world's biggest cup of Dr. Pepper: 44 ounces of insanity! It was a combined effort getting that thing to him everytime he wanted a sip! But I can't complain, I haven't had to drive the entire trip. Sometime after the end of the Humboldt we were deep into salt flats and sagebrush desert when the air got really thick and the sun went away. The only thing we can imagine it was was dust in the air! How bizarre, and we weren't quite sure until it started raining and the rain actually made our car dirty! It was raining mud! Eventually the mud rain turned to real rain and all was right again, but I'll never forget the mud rain. We drove with rain the last few miles through a pass into Reno where we began our nightly search for the 'hotel zone by the highway'... yeah... not in Reno. I guess because there are so many hotels here, the usual Comfort Inn and Best Western at the outskirt of town near the highway does not exist. We finally just headed to the airport and took a hotel room here. Funny, it's the cheapest hotel room we've had all trip, and it's Best Western. Go figure. For future reference: Reno is not a good place to stop and stay the night on your way somewhere else.
And that's it for today. Tomorrow we only have a little over three hours to get to Walnut Creek and the next stage of our adventure begins!
And that's it for today. Tomorrow we only have a little over three hours to get to Walnut Creek and the next stage of our adventure begins!
I like Montana... Idaho... not so much (MCV)
The area around Helena was just as pretty in the morning as it was coming in in the evening. It's in a sort of bowl, surrounded by mountains all around. Driving out of Helena towards Yellowstone we drove in really beautiful arid mountain valleys and a few interesting passes. The tall snowy peaks of the rockies were never very far, although most of what we drove through were smaller, rounder mountains. The rivers in Montana were really pretty, just like 'A River Runs Through It' and there were tons of fishermen out. It was really lovely country! We did go through a canyon that reminded me a little of the Schoellenen, although the rock colour was wrong: pink instead of grey. For those of you who are geologists Yellowstone is an old caldera so approaching Yellowstone we went through mountains of tuff, and glacial valleys with what I argued were moraines but Joel thought were alluvium. It was all pretty incredible. We also saw horizontal beds, maybe folded that way when the valdera blew. In Yellowstone there was so much travertine! Huge hills made up of terraces of deposited CaCo3, it was really neat. In the water live 'thermophiles': little bacteria, etc. that can handle the heat and survive on the H2S (rotten egg gas), which then makes the water safe for other photosynthesising critters. They colour the rock pink and green and make really neat shapes. Amazing how life can exist there. In places where no water runs anymore the carbonate is completely bleached white, and in even older areas it's weathered grey and black. The soil in the area reminds me so much of the soil on land in Cuba: not really carbonate sand, not really soil, just grey and white sandy-gravelly stuff with moss and some grasses growing on it. It wasn't warm like Cuba... And there was no Crystale either. The plateau in Idaho was very snowy and undulating, kind of like Northern Ontario in March. I would not live there... Once we dropped off the plateau it felt like we were in SouthWestern Ontario, only the vegetation was wrong: sagebrush and cottonwoods. I have a feeling the best scenery is behind us until we get to the Sierras later tonight. But who knows, I might like the highway in Nevada better the second time around...
Coyotes or Geese (JPB)
Yesterday was the great Yellowstone adventure. Well, as great as it can be when a lot of the park is closed. We hit Mammoth Hot Springs and Old Faithful. Marlene was so excited to see Old Faithful I thought she was going to jump out of her skin (too bad you can't read sarcasm in a blog....). In her defense, she was tired and hungry and was pretty impressed when it finally blew. There were lots of bison this time around, many with small calves. We were in several bison traffic jams, partly caused by bison in the road, partly caused by people only sort of pulling over to observe the bison. It was pretty fun to navigate your car through a herd of wild(ish) animals though. One of them even gave us a live show of the bowel system of the American buffalo (Bison bison). His demonstration ended right on the double yellow dividing line line of the road. Always fun, and I'm sure the 7 year old kids in the car in front of us were way more mature about the whole situation that I was. Some things are still just funny to me. In terms of other wild life we saw elk, 1 bald eagle (in a nest), and Marlene saw what she thought was either a coyote or some geese. Guess the jury is still out on that one.
After Yellowstone, we stopped in West Yellowstone for a pizza then headed out to Idaho Falls. I think you would have to really really like snow to live in West Yellowstone, or up on the mountains in Idaho. It's now May and there are still SEVERAL FEET of snow on the sides of the road. It looked like February. No leaves on the trees. Just snow. After losing altitude at a 6% grade for 4.5 miles we came down into potato country. There's nothing notable about the Rexberg/Idaho Falls area. Now we're going to lit out for Reno (won't be trailed by 20 hounds though, plus I got some sleep last night before the morning came around, so it's not like the song).
After Yellowstone, we stopped in West Yellowstone for a pizza then headed out to Idaho Falls. I think you would have to really really like snow to live in West Yellowstone, or up on the mountains in Idaho. It's now May and there are still SEVERAL FEET of snow on the sides of the road. It looked like February. No leaves on the trees. Just snow. After losing altitude at a 6% grade for 4.5 miles we came down into potato country. There's nothing notable about the Rexberg/Idaho Falls area. Now we're going to lit out for Reno (won't be trailed by 20 hounds though, plus I got some sleep last night before the morning came around, so it's not like the song).
Friday, May 2, 2008
Sniff Sniff (MCV)
On a more sentimental note, after all of the stress of the past few weeks fell away as we drove away from the border, I became really sad to leave Canada. It's strange but I feel a bit guilty about how elated I was to be across the border, enter a new country and leave my own behind! I'm sure the feeling will ease with time, it always does, but it's at times like these that you appreciate what you have.
By the way, unfortunately anyone who wants to comment on the post needs to sign up for a google account...
By the way, unfortunately anyone who wants to comment on the post needs to sign up for a google account...
Oh to be back in the land of Coca Cola (JPB)
We made it. Most of today was spent in the Comfort Inn of Lethbridge, Alberta waiting for the overnight shipment of the letter that Marlene needed. I felt just like a little kid again. Impatiently waiting and constantly looking out the window, waiting for the mail man to deliver my Sgt. Slaughter G.I. Joe. Finally, at about 2pm, after we gave up on a late check out, and accepted to pay for another night. We saw the Fed Ex truck pull up. Marlene actually ran down the stairs, and greeted the Fed Ex man at the hotel lobby entrance and exclaimed, "I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOOOUUU!!!!" (She probably freaked him out). After getting the letter she needed, we started packing up the truck. The staff at Comfort Inn (who treated us very well) told us that they wouldn't be charging us for the 2nd night on the room. So we checked out, and told the Comfort Inn folks not to take it too personally, but that we really hoped to never see them again. An hour down the road, and guess who was manning the gates at the U.S. Border? The same agent that was working with Marlene the day before. He was very friendly and greeted us with a, "Hey! You guys look familiar!" When he saw my passport he gave me the classic, "Oh right. You're the one with the hair." (For those not familiar, my passport photo features me, a giant beard, and a mane of dreadlocks). Without asking any other questions (besides my license plate number) he told us to pull around and go into the building. About 1 hr later. We were back on the road, into Montana. It went very smoothly.
A few quick notes on Montana before I go eat my microwaved chili. (yes, Chili, with an 'i' not chile with an 'e').
Our first purchases in Montana:
2 Idaho Spuds (the candy bar, not Russets)
1 Montana pin (I collect pins like a 87 year old bridge master grandma)
1 L'il Sheriff Montana badge (Marlene loves the concept of the Sheriff)
1 bag o' corn nuts (What? It's a long drive)
1 bag of knock off Gardetto's snack mix (not as good as the real deal)
Oddly enough, when we got change, I got a freshly minted New Mexico Quarter. It's the first one I've seen, and I think they did a great job. I was very excited.
More notes:
A few quick notes on Montana before I go eat my microwaved chili. (yes, Chili, with an 'i' not chile with an 'e').
Our first purchases in Montana:
2 Idaho Spuds (the candy bar, not Russets)
1 Montana pin (I collect pins like a 87 year old bridge master grandma)
1 L'il Sheriff Montana badge (Marlene loves the concept of the Sheriff)
1 bag o' corn nuts (What? It's a long drive)
1 bag of knock off Gardetto's snack mix (not as good as the real deal)
Oddly enough, when we got change, I got a freshly minted New Mexico Quarter. It's the first one I've seen, and I think they did a great job. I was very excited.
More notes:
- Montana is an incredibly beautiful state, and this is based solely on about 3 hrs of driving on the interstate. I can't imagine what it would be like to have the chance to explore this place more. The trees have been devastated by bark beetles in places though. The red bed outcrops are great too, so Marlene got a lesson on red bed diagenesis as we were going down the road.
- It's very hard to drive 75mph after living in Canada, where 100 km/h (~63 mph) is hauling it.
- There are casinos EVERYWHERE here. They aren't crazy-flashy-sign-showgirl-Wayne-Newton-Las-Vegas type places. But more like Is-that-a-Denny's-nope-it's-a-casino type places.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
USA don't want me... yet! (MCV)
So Joel and I got up real early this morning ready to head out on our great California adventure. The day was perfect for driving: sunny, warm, no sign of snow, no traffic and nice dry roads. The scenery was really beautiful, looks pretty much like the Alberta flag out here. Nice view of the mountains and rolling prairie with cattle and bison and salt flats. I'll be sad not to see the landscape anymore, but I really enjoyed watching it today. After four hours we arrived at the border and began the paperwork. It never got finished... I had to withdraw my application because my documentation failed to mention a start date! Duh! I can't believe we missed that! Good thing I payed for a lawyer... Anyways, the people at the border were really nice and helpful and told me what I need to do to get my paperwork in order. A frantic call to Jacobs, an hour drive back up to Lethbridge and we're now cooling our heels waiting for the fedex to show up so we can go for round two tomorrow.
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