Monday, March 2, 2009
Who Am I Here?
This is the question that I've bumped into frequently since we've moved to New France - who am I here? God, there's so much to say about this I can't write it all now. Later.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Why Today?
Why have I picked today to start posting again? Who knows? It could be the sheets of ice over the streets and sidewalks. It could be because I'm wearing corduroy pants with a corduroy sport coat. (Some out there would be surprised, and I hope proud, to see how well I've cleaned up since my stay-at-home dad days.)
The real reason is because I miss typing and writing. I had a day off yesterday and did no writing at all. None. A completely free bonus day - with no writing done. What does that mean? Have I given up on my script? No. No. I refuse. I'm incubating it. But man, I need some outlet. Some venue for my thoughts.
If you're looking for a good read, try Norman Rush's Mating. Top shelf fiction. I must have read something else since then, but I can't remember what...
The real reason is because I miss typing and writing. I had a day off yesterday and did no writing at all. None. A completely free bonus day - with no writing done. What does that mean? Have I given up on my script? No. No. I refuse. I'm incubating it. But man, I need some outlet. Some venue for my thoughts.
If you're looking for a good read, try Norman Rush's Mating. Top shelf fiction. I must have read something else since then, but I can't remember what...
Friday, November 21, 2008
Airport
Okay, so the only thing I haven't been able to get my head around is the airport. The only thing that I can't think is quaint or homey is the airport. All I want to do is drive to the airport, board the plane, and get off at my destination. I'm not to be convinced that it's somehow a minor inconvenience to have to change planes every time I fly. Every single time. And many times through O'Hare. O'Hare! Many good men and women have been lost there. I can deal with the cold. I can handle the food. The falling leaves, Packer fans, snow, Badger fans, North Face wearing students, the "traffic" on the highway, the constant search for winter clothes, rural jurors, farmers, hunters, fishermen, and all of it, but man. Why can't there be a direct flight anywhere that I want to fly?
Here's the list of cities that are served by flights from MSN. So I have family in two of those cities, but I'm disregarding that since I have yet to fly from here to either of them. My point is that it's like flying out of AOL Online airport. It's severely restricted. I suppose this is the sign that I need to start loving New York.
# Atlanta - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL)
# Chicago - O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
# Cincinnati - Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG)
# Cleveland - Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE)
# Dallas-Fort Worth - Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
# Denver - Denver International Airport (DEN)
# Detroit - Detroit Metro Airport (DTW)
# Memphis - Memphis International Airport (MEM)
# Milwaukee - General Mitchell International Airport (MKE)
# Minneapolis - Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP)
# New York - LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
# Newark - Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
# St. Louis - Lambert/St. Louis International Airport (STL)
# Washington DC - Reagan National Airport (DCA)
Here's the list of cities that are served by flights from MSN. So I have family in two of those cities, but I'm disregarding that since I have yet to fly from here to either of them. My point is that it's like flying out of AOL Online airport. It's severely restricted. I suppose this is the sign that I need to start loving New York.
# Atlanta - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL)
# Chicago - O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
# Cincinnati - Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG)
# Cleveland - Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE)
# Dallas-Fort Worth - Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
# Denver - Denver International Airport (DEN)
# Detroit - Detroit Metro Airport (DTW)
# Memphis - Memphis International Airport (MEM)
# Milwaukee - General Mitchell International Airport (MKE)
# Minneapolis - Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP)
# New York - LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
# Newark - Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
# St. Louis - Lambert/St. Louis International Airport (STL)
# Washington DC - Reagan National Airport (DCA)
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
We Made It!
We've successfully made the move. Monica's mother, Suzanne, came and watched the baby while we packed up the house. Her brother, Jeremy, came and took charge of packing the truck. The ladies flew to Madison, and Jeremy and I - and my dad - drove out here. If I had a laptop I could have live blogged the whole thing, but it was probably more efficient and less annoying to everyone around that I just did my part to help the move.
Here's the recap of the drive in the car and the moving van. (This is a lift from an email to South Pas Ian.)
"We left South Pasadena and drove up to my dad's place in St. George, UT. He took us out to dinner at the Elks Club. My brother in law thought that was a real hoot. We left Utah on Thursday intending to drive all the way to Cheyenne, Wyoming, but after a few hours we decided to take it easy and stop early since our next planned stop after Wyoming was Omaha, NE (an easy drive from anywhere in Wyoming). We stayed over night in Rawlins, WY, about a hundred miles short of Cheyenne.
We woke up on Friday to snow and wind. We were able to drive about 60 miles to Laramie, Wyoming before the highway patrol closed interstate 80 due to high wind and ice on the road. Jeremy said that the short drive from Rawlins to Laramie instantly made his "top 5 of his most harrowing drives ever." It certainly was tough. We were driving at 40 mph at some points because visibility was so low. We stopped in Laramie and had breakfast. It was only about 10 when we stopped. It really made my father upset. He couldn't quite accept it. Regardless we sat around the restaurant and played cards for a couple hours. We kept one ear on the highway advisory radio channel, but nothing changed. Finally my dad drove up to the highway and he saw some trucks moving (semi-trucks had lined themselves up on the shoulder of the interstate, waiting for the road to open). He thought that the road had opened. We drove ourselves up there, but the road wasn't open yet. We parked at Wal-Mart and killed some more time there. Then we parked the moving truck and the car in the line of semi-trucks lined up on the road. And waited. I read. We listened to the advisory channel in the car repeating the same messages over and over.
About three o'clock Jeremy and I started trying to talk my dad into giving up for the day, getting a hotel room and maybe seeing a movie, but he refused. He was convinced that the road would open soon. His misunderstanding was that he thought it was the snow that was causing the problems. He thought that they would have the interstate cleared of snow soon and that we could pass. However the problem wasn't the snow. It was the wind. Up to 70 mph according to the advisory channel message. And it wasn't letting up. The trick is that there is kind of high pass on our route on the interstate between Laramie and Cheyenne. The wind in this area gets up very strong.
We drove to the last exit before the road closure and could clearly see the highway patrol car sitting in the middle of the road with its lights on. Then we circled around and got back in line behind the semitrucks. Eventually, sometime after six oclock, we convinced my dad that we had to get a room. It would be dark between eight or nine, and even if the road was opened it still wouldn't be actually safe. And neither of us wanted to drive in those conditions in the dark. He finally agreed. We got a hotel room. According to the radio the road coming west (opposite the way we were traveling) opened about 8, and the road going east opened about nine, well after dark. Thank god, we didn't try it. It would have been scary as hell. Jeremy and I ended up going out for a beer and watching Atlanta beat Boston in game 6. Downtown Laramie is pretty happening. It's a college town so there were lots of people out on a Friday night.
The next morning, Saturday, my dad woke us up at 4:30 am. We were on the road at, I remember, 5:22 am. Light, but not the disc of the sun, was just appearing over the mountain pass that we were going to travel over. We got going with the intention to try to get all the way to Madison in one day. Dad had a plane to catch Sunday, and Jeremy's wife, Tracey, was having a birthday and we needed to get back to have lunch with her. We'd have to leave Wyoming, cross the length of Nebraska, cross Iowa, and then surge into Wisconsin. We took it as it came, switched drivers around, ate quickly, and ultimately we made it. We pulled into Monica's parents place about 10:30 Saturday night. It was exhausting, but also exciting and challenging.
We unloaded the truck pretty quickly the next morning. Then celebrated Tracey's birthday. Took my dad to the airport."
Whew!
Here's the recap of the drive in the car and the moving van. (This is a lift from an email to South Pas Ian.)
"We left South Pasadena and drove up to my dad's place in St. George, UT. He took us out to dinner at the Elks Club. My brother in law thought that was a real hoot. We left Utah on Thursday intending to drive all the way to Cheyenne, Wyoming, but after a few hours we decided to take it easy and stop early since our next planned stop after Wyoming was Omaha, NE (an easy drive from anywhere in Wyoming). We stayed over night in Rawlins, WY, about a hundred miles short of Cheyenne.
We woke up on Friday to snow and wind. We were able to drive about 60 miles to Laramie, Wyoming before the highway patrol closed interstate 80 due to high wind and ice on the road. Jeremy said that the short drive from Rawlins to Laramie instantly made his "top 5 of his most harrowing drives ever." It certainly was tough. We were driving at 40 mph at some points because visibility was so low. We stopped in Laramie and had breakfast. It was only about 10 when we stopped. It really made my father upset. He couldn't quite accept it. Regardless we sat around the restaurant and played cards for a couple hours. We kept one ear on the highway advisory radio channel, but nothing changed. Finally my dad drove up to the highway and he saw some trucks moving (semi-trucks had lined themselves up on the shoulder of the interstate, waiting for the road to open). He thought that the road had opened. We drove ourselves up there, but the road wasn't open yet. We parked at Wal-Mart and killed some more time there. Then we parked the moving truck and the car in the line of semi-trucks lined up on the road. And waited. I read. We listened to the advisory channel in the car repeating the same messages over and over.
About three o'clock Jeremy and I started trying to talk my dad into giving up for the day, getting a hotel room and maybe seeing a movie, but he refused. He was convinced that the road would open soon. His misunderstanding was that he thought it was the snow that was causing the problems. He thought that they would have the interstate cleared of snow soon and that we could pass. However the problem wasn't the snow. It was the wind. Up to 70 mph according to the advisory channel message. And it wasn't letting up. The trick is that there is kind of high pass on our route on the interstate between Laramie and Cheyenne. The wind in this area gets up very strong.
We drove to the last exit before the road closure and could clearly see the highway patrol car sitting in the middle of the road with its lights on. Then we circled around and got back in line behind the semitrucks. Eventually, sometime after six oclock, we convinced my dad that we had to get a room. It would be dark between eight or nine, and even if the road was opened it still wouldn't be actually safe. And neither of us wanted to drive in those conditions in the dark. He finally agreed. We got a hotel room. According to the radio the road coming west (opposite the way we were traveling) opened about 8, and the road going east opened about nine, well after dark. Thank god, we didn't try it. It would have been scary as hell. Jeremy and I ended up going out for a beer and watching Atlanta beat Boston in game 6. Downtown Laramie is pretty happening. It's a college town so there were lots of people out on a Friday night.
The next morning, Saturday, my dad woke us up at 4:30 am. We were on the road at, I remember, 5:22 am. Light, but not the disc of the sun, was just appearing over the mountain pass that we were going to travel over. We got going with the intention to try to get all the way to Madison in one day. Dad had a plane to catch Sunday, and Jeremy's wife, Tracey, was having a birthday and we needed to get back to have lunch with her. We'd have to leave Wyoming, cross the length of Nebraska, cross Iowa, and then surge into Wisconsin. We took it as it came, switched drivers around, ate quickly, and ultimately we made it. We pulled into Monica's parents place about 10:30 Saturday night. It was exhausting, but also exciting and challenging.
We unloaded the truck pretty quickly the next morning. Then celebrated Tracey's birthday. Took my dad to the airport."
Whew!
Friday, March 14, 2008
The Next Step
Now that we're back from our trip two things will happen. I will start looking for work, and we're also going to B'shire in two weeks for a long weekend to look for a place to live (and love) when we move out there.
We've already got a line on a house (for rent) that sounds wonderful. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa K! We'll also look at a couple apartments for the sake of due diligence.
The job is another thing. I am intimidated to look for work without actually being there, but I am sure that I'll find something great. The kind of thing I'm looking for right now is nonprofit oriented, especially in development. Development is a euphamism for fund raising. I'm looking on Idealist.org, the city of Madison website, craigslist, and a couple arts jobs sites. I see a new development job opening up every few weeks, so I think I should be able to find something.
We've already got a line on a house (for rent) that sounds wonderful. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa K! We'll also look at a couple apartments for the sake of due diligence.
The job is another thing. I am intimidated to look for work without actually being there, but I am sure that I'll find something great. The kind of thing I'm looking for right now is nonprofit oriented, especially in development. Development is a euphamism for fund raising. I'm looking on Idealist.org, the city of Madison website, craigslist, and a couple arts jobs sites. I see a new development job opening up every few weeks, so I think I should be able to find something.
Back from the Continent
Me and the family got back from our trip abroad the other day. You can check out the slide show here.
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| Our Trip to Italia |
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