Archive for Adventures
Car goes crunch!
So Drew and I decided to go hiking with a meetup group last weekend. There was potential bad weather, but other people were gonna tough it out and go, so I figured we could as well. So we get there kinda late, and do the hike with a few other people who also got there late. Take lots of pretty pictures, like this one:
And these ominous clouds:
So we get down from the hike, and slowly make our descent off the mountain. I was driving slow, but apparently 20mph doesn’t cut it in some areas, because I went around a curve, hit a slick patch, and drove into an embankment. Slowly though, so it was a nice fluffy ‘thud’, and as it happened I was dreading the possibility of having to get a tow truck to get my car out of said embankment. Then there was a crunch as the car behind me also hit the slick spot and plowed into my back.
It was a gentle plowing though, no injuries. Well, except to my poor car. It was unfortunate too, as the guy that hit my car was one of the people I’d just been hiking with. And as sad as I was about my rear getting crunched, I felt pretty bad for the guy, as he was feeling awful about hitting me. It was pretty minor though, I could drive home on it (slowly, to keep the back light from flying off).
So I’ve got this rental car now, and my car is in the shop for an unknown length of time, all covered by the guy’s insurance. Rear panel needs to get replaced (if I remember correctly), along with the light of course. I’ll miss my companion cube!
In other news, Drew and I are getting up very early Wednesday to go plant ourselves in front of a Chick-fil-a in Fort Collins in the hopes of being one of the first 100 when it opens. Ah, the joys of being underemployed.
Cross country travel in a ridiculous vehicle, etc
So the excruciatingly planned last weekend seemed to turn out OK, minus the fact that we generally left places about an hour or so later then I’d anticipated. That, however, can be attributed to my being entirely too optimistic about how efficient Drew and I can be in getting things accomplished.
It was nice to see people and eat delicious Thai food Friday night, though in an ideal world we would have had more then just that evening for such things. Saw Carolyn & Todd’s house, which is magical and full of penguins. Spent the night at my parents’ place, got delicious Mexican for lunch the next day with both my & Drew’s parents plus Julie. Next, headed off to Charlie & Tara’s wedding, which was weddingtastic. Hung out with all sorts of OWP-related peoples at reception and ate/drank copious amounts of items (it is indeed possible for asparagus to taste really good, crazy!). Went to OWP Jason’s afterward for continued OWP-related socializing. Then, off to Drew’s dad & stepmom’s place in Chester for sleeps. Get moving truck from Budget the next day, move items from attic into said truck, eat copious amounts of delicious seared tuna. Head back to my parents place, sleep. Get up next day and move my items into truck. Eat bacon, load up on travel sandwiches and cookies, hug Mickey the pigeon goodbye.
We left around 11:00am or so, taking 64W. The trip is the same that we took back in July, except this time in a giant bouncy truck (well, if you consider 10′ “giant”) that costs about $50 to refill the tank. Anyhow, the drive through Virginia was one taken many times before, and the drive through West Virginia is absolutely gorgeous. Giant mountains everywhere! West Virginia is totally underrated. We go through Charleston, which looks like a fun place to visit. Then, the long drive through Kentucky, where we end up in Louisville at Drew’s aunt & uncle’s place around 10:00 pm or so. Stay the night there, eat breakfast biscuits, load up on travel sandwiches and cookies. We drive for forever and a half the next day, all the way to Kansas, going through Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. In St Louis we switched from I-64 to I-70. St Louis also looks like a fun place to visit, what with their fancy arch and all. The worst state for driving through, for me, was Missouri, it was just long highway and terrain not dissimilar to other long highways in VA/NC/OH. I wanted to make sure that last day of driving wasn’t Hell, so we pushed into Kansas, and stayed in Abilene at a cheap hotel, getting there about 11:00 or so. Or maybe 10:00 or so. Or possibly 12:00 or so. Our truck was on Mountain time the entire trip, my watch was on Central time, but my head was on Eastern time because I kept getting sleepy entirely too early. This continues, as for some bizarre reason I am typing this post at 7:30 am, and it’s not from staying up all night!
Anyhow, we left at 11:00 the next day, driving the long haul through Kansas. Almost all of this drive through Kansas is farmland. The first 1/3 or so is full of lots of rolling hills, and it’s really pretty. The rest is really flat. Everyone seems to complain about it being really flat, but I never really got tired of it. I kept looking around and being all like “Wow, it’s really flat!” This fascinated me until we hit Colorado and I started getting antsy for mountains. Also, it was super windy, and tumbleweeds kept flying across the road. As you move across Kansas, it also goes from “hey, it’s pretty green and farmy here” to “Hey, it’s drier, but still farmy here, just with more cattle” to “gee, it’s kinda brown!” and mostly ranches/farms with cattle/horses. Oh, and there are giant wind turbines at one point along the highway, which are really neat to see. I took pictures, and if I find any ambition whatsoever, I’ll try to post them at some point.
So we get into Colo Spgs around 7:00, making good time, eat chicken, and decide to sleep at Pam’s place for the night and drive the truck up the next day, to give Estha the cat one more day of sanity (she was staying with Pam for the week we were traveling). We’ve spent the last two days locating furniture, and today we get to take the truck back. The furniture has been an adventure in itself, and I shall post more when I have more ambition.
The job hunt continues
So Drew is currently on a plane back to Richmond. He’s got his final exam to take, and then he’s all done with school and has his political science degree. Then both of us can be busy not being able to find jobs, yay!
I actually had an interview last Thursday, a nice long phone interview with two different people in the company. I felt confidant about the interview – I had practically all of the skills they were seeking, and even made a point of dabbling in one thing they were looking for that I didn’t have. Everything seemed peachy with Interviewer #2, but Interviewer #1 flung questions at me about things that weren’t mentioned at all in the job description or by the recruiter. Based on the description, the position was pretty straight up web design stuff (html/css/js), but then I’m getting asked about things like weblogic and struts, neither of which I am familiar with at all. So I’m still fuzzy on what happened, if the job description simply was not as complete as it could be, or if they decided that it would be in their best interest to get someone that had a wider range of skill then what they were initially looking for, or if there was simply some miscommunication. In any case I did not get the job, which is too bad as I had rather enjoyed Interview #2 (it went more like a conversation, and I’d thought I’d gotten a good feeling from the interviewer), and the job (based on the description at least) had sounded interesting and right up my alley. Alas. Someone called me today about another position, don’t know all the details yet so we’ll see.
Drew and I went to Boulder last weekend and there was a random art festival going on, which was interesting and entirely too expensive. The downtown area fell into a similar category. Manitou Springs seems like hippies + tourists, and Boulder is definitely hippies + yuppies. There was a large stream with some decent rapids which we walked along, along with 8237982374 people and their inflated tubes. The rapids looked really fun, and I’d like to go back and go tubing there sometime. We also meandered outside the town on some random path or another into a canyon-type area, and I climbed a giant rock. My thighs were all in a way after that, but in a good way. I like climbing giant rocks. There are random mesas/buttes nearby, and I want to pack a picnic and climb to the top of one and eat it.
Here are more random photos for your eyeballs’ enjoyment.
This is from a nearby construction site, dusk was a good time for pictures there!
Andrew poses beside a mighty cannon.
I’m a cowboy…on a steel horse I ride…and I’m wanted….dead or alive!
More random updates from Colorado
Let see, last Friday we managed to hit four Chick-fil-a restaurants. I wore my usual cow blanket plus horns, Drew wore a white plastic bag with holes cut in it and a black shirt underneath, along with some horns. Twas very exciting. They’ve got free breakfast entree Tuesdays going on this month, but the nearest Chick-fil-a is about 25 minutes away, so we’re just not that ambitious in the morning (not yet, at least).
Went to the Colorado Renaissance Festival this past Saturday, it was far more exciting then the piddly one just north of Richmond I went to a few years back. Saw jousting and ate copious amounts of tasty items. Did some hiking at Garden of the Gods yesterday, which is a really neat park full of giant rock formations. Our oxygen levels are still struggling from that whole altitude thing (it’s 6,000+ feet here), but is gradually improving.
And here’s some random photos. Yay field!
Storms out here are really weird. Because of the mountains and lack of lots of trees, you can see much more sky then in VA. Then, because of the altitude, you’re much closer to the clouds then you were before. Thus, you see a storm coming from aways off, and it looks really weird in contrast to the clear and sunny sky beyond it.
These majestic beasts were feeding in a nearby construction site at dusk:
Update on the state of things
Drew and I ventured over to Manitou Springs today, which is this really neat town on the edge of Pike’s Peak. Much barbecue and chocolate were consumed.
I’m trying to do a fair bit of biking, because a.) The weather is fabulous: sunny, rather warm, and when I sweat it immediately dissipitates, b.) it’s an excellent way to get to know the area, c.) We’re currently located on the edge of suburbia, right beside fields and country with horsies and such and it’s really pretty, d.) the suburbia is a lot more bike-aware then Richmond’s suburbia ever was, and e.) If I continue to eat copious amount of barbecue and chocolate, the biking will be highly necessary to ensure that I don’t have to go spend entirely too much money on new bras. It’s interesting, the suburbia here is so much friendlier then what I’m used to. Mind you, it’s still rather inconvenient if you’re trying to walk to the grocery store, and there is excessive use of strip mall-age. We’re in an area where there’s a lot of newer housing, and it’s nice looking smaller houses. I’m used to seeing either new giant McMansion type buildings, or cheap and crappy new buildings. There’s a lot of nicer looking 2-3 bedroom houses, with interesting architecture and rock gardens and such. Mind you, the architecture might just be related to the fact that I’m used to seeing colonials and whatever else they use all over the Mid-Atlantic, and here everything has more of a western feel. Also, there’s sidewalks! Lots of sidewalks!
Jobwise, there is slight advancement. My resume is being submitted by a recruiter for a position doing web stuff with Barclay Card. It would be working with table-less design (and hand-coding at that, yay) and trying to make all their websites standards-compliant, which I’m decent at, so the job itself sounds interesting. I need to go look at YUI and see if it’s in any way similar to Jquery, and either way I should try to learn some, as they’re interested in having that as well. One downside is that it’s located in Colorado Springs, and I was really stoked about being in Denver. However, I’ve explored next to none of the area, and I’m pretty sure I’d be fine staying in CS for awhile for a decent job. I’m just a sucker for giant cities with nightlife and such. I am also a sucker for mountains and paths that allow me to climb all over said mountains, so either location should work just fine for that.
I will now end this with two excellent pictures of Andrew. The first one shows him gliding majestically up a hillside:
The second shows him being, uh, less majestic:
Running off and such
So Drew and I are off for a lovely week in beautiful humid Florida, whereupon we will camp and hike and sprawl out on the beach and hunt for good Cuban food. Hope everyone else has a superb week!
Firefox, keyboards, diving for goodies, and my beloved Steelcase chair.
So is it just me, or has Firefox been really slow since the last update? It takes for-freaking-ever to load pages. I’m paranoid I’ve gotten some sort of weird virus on it. I’m hoping that maybe it’s some sort of issue with the latest version instead, though, mostly because viruses are a huge pain. Chrome works fine though, and for all I know IE might work fine too (though whether I’ll actually check is debatable). In the process of being frustrated, I defragged, so my C drive is feeling much better. Also found out that Steam, which I used for Portal-related purposes and have barely touched since then, was taking up multiple gigs of space. Not completely sure why, as, though I had several random trial downloads, none of them were in any way fancy. Nonetheless, it got uninstalled.
My computer area is now oolong-flavored. Yesterday I had the fabulous fortune to whack my still-too-hot-to-drink cup of tea with my elbow, thus giving some things a bath. Nothing too important though, lucky for me there is apparently some serious indentation going on in the middle of my computer desk. Though, the left arrow on my keyboard is sticking in a rather unfortunate way. I feel lucky that the keyboard works at all, though, given my luck with spilling things on keyboards. Which I suppose is the price one inevitably pays for keeping beverages at one’s desk.
So this past Saturday! Diving madness! As Christine is unemployed and I am a lover of Free, we both went up to the U of R for their moving out day to check out all the detritus the students were leaving behind. At first I was disappointed due to the lack of VA-friendly items, but in the end all was well. Drew and I now have about 25+ packets of microwaveable popcorn (butter lover’s, to be precise). Someone had a great big box of the stuff and had chucked it, with barely any used at all. I also have a hula hoop! The best find though was a super sweet jacket. It’s made by Diesel, and is cut and designed in a really interesting manner, with joyous zippers. Once I’ve washed it I’ll post a picture of the awesomeness.
On a final note, I essentially have had a free drafting chair for the past several years. Back when I started doing contract work for OWP, I bought a really nice used Steelcase drafting chair from Hull St Outlet for $100. It was a really high-quality chair and was amazing for my posture. I used it constantly for two good years, and then when I went to work in-house, it just kinda sat around. I finally decided to suck it up and sell it. As much as I liked the chair, I liked the money more, and I feel bad if I own something and never use it, I feel like that item would be happier if it were owned by a person who appreciated it more then me. So I sold the chair on Craigslist – for $100. Yay!
Adventures in Baltimore
I somehow managed to end up in Baltimore today. Went up with Christine, Charlie & Tara to deposit art at an art show (no entry charge!). There shall be a gala and auction on Friday which we will most likely not attend, due to the fact that it is three freaking hours away. Hopefully, someone will bid on my piece and give me boatloads of dollars. If not, then we head back up next Thursday to retrieve the forlorn art. While up there, we saw a show with some medieval illuminated religious texts, as well as originals for a new version of parts of the bible being illuminated by some people at a church in Minnesota. A lot of the medieval illuminations were really nice, makes me want to have texts to draw all over.
We ate at Mekong Delta, which I highly recommend eating at if you’re ever up there. My pork and spring rolls on vermicelli was quite delish, and I even had enough left over for meal #2.
Whereupon I ramble about Asheville, the internet, and all sorts of nonsense
First off, I have found my new time sucking void. It is located at http://www.brokenpicturetelephone.com. I seriously wish I’d had the genius to think this site up. You play “telephone”, except alternating between drawing pictures from a sentence, and writing sentences based on someone else’s picture. It is all sorts of fun.
So Christine and I went to Asheville for several days, and a good time was had by all. Downtown Asheville is essentially one skyscraper surrounded by a bunch of hippie shops. I really needed to discover this place about 13 years ago, back when I was all into hippie stuff. Lots of altered clothing shops as well, ranging from the really innovative and neat to the overpriced and banal. I appreciated the wide range of restaurants, as well as the fact that were three sushi shops on the same street in downtown, all within about 8 minutes walking distance of each other. Mmm sushi. There was a crazy bead store there, whereupon I acquired some UV-receptive beads. Also, chocolate shops. I heart fudge.
We got badgered for money a few times. A few scammers were running around with some holey stories about being a veteran and needing money for staying at a hotel who price had suddenly increased (my fabulous suggestion that he go to a hotel further out, as the prices were cheaper, was quickly rejected for a nonsensical reason). There were also a few pseudo-homeless about. By pseudo-homeless, I mean some young, articulate fashion conscious faux-gutterpunk kids prowling for dollars. I did end up giving some dude my leftovers for his dog, but then again, “dragon pâté” wasn’t quite what it could have been.
We did the Biltmore. Expensive, though the house is interesting. Swimming pool in the basement is all sorts of bonus creepy. The food there is totally not worth it, they’re totally tarnishing the “we are a fancy place to visit” image by offering a turkey and swiss wrap for $8+, only to have the swiss be white american. It was one of the worst wraps I’d ever eaten. The pizza suffered from similar issues, the description told of lavish ingredients, but the reality looked like your standard flat ordinary pizza. Alas.
Then, we attempted to find nightlife. My research had proved to be a bit fruitful, but only so much. We started off at a bar called Getaways, whereupon we played some Wii and I attempted some Guitar Hero until the futility of playing a rhythm game without actually being able to hear the music kicked in. We then ventured forth to Club Hairspray, which was chock full of redneck lesbian karaoke. We sang a Joan Jett song, and enjoyed the ambiance. Also, apparently “getting dressed up for a night on the town” means wearing jeans with heels. My totally rocking party dress was completely unnecessary, dang.
No hiking, alas. It was wet pretty much the entire time we were there. And now, I am back. And really need to jump all the way into this whole “job hunting” thing. And learning me some Joomla. It’s a gradual process.
Hiking at Elliot Knob, as well as food adventures
First, the hiking. Drew, Julie and I went to Elliot Knob this past weekend. It’s a bit west of Staunton. As an aside, I really enjoy pronouncing Staunton the way people from Staunton actually pronounce it, doing so entertains me greatly. Anyhow, we ventured forth with two dogs and a nice picnic. The trail alternated between dirt road and actual trail, and we ended up eating lunch in a teeny field amongst some power lines with a good overlook of the valley below. The last mile of the trail was at this insane uphill angle, which caused our legs to fall off. The view from the top was totally worth it, though. Hiking back was interesting as the last 1/3 was done in the darkness. We were super smart, though, and brought flashlights with us. So we ended up only taking one wrong turn in the dark. Mind you, on the way up I totally led us down the wrong trail at one point. Anyhow, if you have good legs and like hiking straight up, I totally recommend it.
Oh, and here’s some pictures I dumped all over facebook!
In other news, Drew and I had an exiting adventure at Trader Joe’s today, which I’d been wanting to do for quite awhile. I first went to one back when I was like 17 and in California with my aunt. So we got some awesome looking pizza dough for a buck, an awesome looking pack of granola bars for a buck, some chocolate and granola cereal for 2 bucks, and a bunch of other things. It’s interesting, some of the prices were higher then what I’d pay for things, and seemed more in line with your standard fancy organic pricing, and some of the prices were cheaper then I generally pay for similar things (AKA the $1 garlic pizza dough). Mmm garlic pizza.
That area out at Short Pump is insane! I generally avoid that area, as unless you go in the middle of a weekday it’s just a sea of cars and concrete mazes and makes me want to start smashing things. And so, at some point or another, a giant strip of field and trees got filled in with giant apartments and restaurants and stores, kinda crazy. I really hate the whole ‘giant boxes of stores separated by giant highway, so don’t even think of trying all of your errands in this area on foot’ kind of thing. However, I can hope they might be moving in a slightly different direction, given that the apartments had stores on their first floor and such, and the buildings seemed to be getting built in the direction of being more walkable and communitylike (mind you, they’re still building stuff, so who knows). I think that everyone needs to read Suburban Nation, especially if you are a developer, that way you will be making places I want to live in. I can hope things are moving in that direction, what with this whole ‘green movement’ thing and all, as a great way to cut down on car exhaust would be to make it easier to walk to stores from your house then to drive there.
And on a completely different note, we saw Coraline a few days ago. I really liked the animation style, and I highly recommend the movie to anyone who likes artsy animation and cutesy horror.
