Back in California

Well, I’ve been back in Oakland since Tuesday now. I hope to get back to proper posting tomorrow, including Drive Blog, days 3-5, which include much of the meat of the trip. In general, it was a good trip, a whirlwind view of the northern midwest national monuments and parks. I felt like I should have been driving an RV, except that would have sucked.

I leave for Guatemala one week two weeks from Monday, which will likely result in two weeks of no posting. So hopefully this week will be interesting to make up for my otherwise general absence.

Drive Blog, day 2

So today we did about 450 miles to get to Mt. Rushmore. On the way we did a quick stop at the Badlands, which are totally amazing. Basically, the Badlands are big petrified rock formations formed by about half a million years of erosion, which is apparently a very short time. I don’t know how to describe them. One of the most amazing things about the Badlands is the very different land formations in such a small area. There are jagged rock cliffs, some of which have trees, others do not. There are large settes (or whatever the appropriate word is), some with rock tops, some with lots of grassland (it’s near a national grassland).

We did NOT go to prairie dog town in the Badlands because I was not comfortable driving my weighed-down car on the gravel road. I was disappointed to not see and prairie dogs in the Badlands, as I was to never see a badger while living in Wisconsin. Not sure what the deal is with my obsession with large rodents.

I also liked Mt. Rushmore both for being so impressive and for all the ironic reasons to like Mt. Rushmore. Got some good gifts to bring back to friends here, as well as a Mt. Rushmore tee for myself (i went guady for the America themed one with big pics of the mountain faces; it rocks).

A few words on the pictures. First, I switched from flickr to Snapfish because flickr only let me have up to three “sets” of photos, whereas Snapfish seems to allow unlimited albums. That’s key to me, although flickr uploader is better than Snapfish’s browser plugin. Second, I have a problem with taking pictures. Like most things I do, I do them way all out or not at all. So I went a bit overboard on the pics. I also almost always forget to take pics of people. There are a few more pics of me and my mom on my mom’s camera, so when I copy those I’ll upload them as well.

I just realized that I don’t know how to link to my Snapfish page (except a share e-mail), a potential snag. We’ll work on that later.

Tomorrow, we have a busy day. We’re going to quickly hit up Devil’s Tower (I think, in part, because of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, because that’s what Richard Dreyfuss builds with his mashed potatoes. Then we’re making a long push to get to Cody, WY, which is 50 miles from the East entrance to Yellowstone, which we’re going to on Sunday. Then on Monday we’ll see the Tetons, then head for Oakland. Sweet!

I’m tired and this post is incoherent. So: that’s it for this one…

Drive Blog, day 1

Today my mother and I began our drive from Madison to Oakland.

She arrived in Madison on Tuesday. Tuesday through today we moved me out of my apartment, packing what we could in the car and basically throwing away the rest. Yay for my mom for doing most of the cleaning. I did sweep.

I think we did a very good job packing the car. I gave up two things I was hoping to take with me. One was the microwave, but that doesn’t really bother me. The other was this 80-something dollar fan that I bought at Bed & Bath. It’s awesome. Somebody picked it up off the street right away. At least it is replaceable, but a bit pricy.

So, I decided at 11am that we should leave today. In the end, I didn’t call a couple people I sort of was supposed to call before I left, but I don’t think they will be offended. The truth is, after packing all day, I was tired anyway and probably wasn’t going to call them. I probably could have met up with only one of them anyway, so I don’t think I should feel bad.

Anyway, we left at around 4pm today (Thursday). We made good time and stopped at around 8:30 in Fairmont, MN, about 100 miles from the Minnesota-South Dakota border. (Both states are new for my mom; I’ve only been in the Minneapolis airport before.)

There’s not much to say about today, it was really just a pretty straightforward drive on 90 from Madison to and then through Minnesota. The highlight (if I do say so myself) was my hugely successful 4 disc mix “box set” to set the soundtrack for the first day. (I will probably post the tracklist tomorrow.) The whole crowd (i.e., my mom and I) enjoyed the “box set” a great deal.

The reason we are taking 90 (instead of 80) to get from Wisconsin to California is that we are going to see the sights. Tomorrow we’re going to drive about 450 miles to get to near Mt. Rushmore. Then we’re going to see it on Saturday. Actually, I just looked up the website, and it’s lighted, so maybe we’ll go see the Mt. Rushmore light show tomorrow at 9pm. If we make it in time.

Then we’re going to see some combination of Yellowstone and the Tetons. Then we will probably take some relatively direct route back to Oakland in time for my dad’s birthday and the Flaming Lips show (unrelated).

Anything else? Perhaps tomorrow.

back in Madison

yesterday, actually. I am packing to drive back to California. I (disaster!) couldn’t find my passport, which is important for going to Guatemala and all. But then I found it in a plastic ziplock bag. Hooray!

More to come. Hopefully something of a log of my drive too, if we stay in hotels with free interent.

going to Philly today

probably won’t post again until after I return on 7/10.

have I mentioned…

…that I AM going to Guatemala? I have a plane ticket and everything.

I’m glad I don’t have to be a Bucks fan

Am I the only person who think that trading TJ Ford for Charlie Villenueva proves that the Bucks should have drafted Chris Paul, even not knowing how amazing he would be?

Now, I’ve been on the Chris Paul bandwagon since he was a freshman, so I’m biased, but still. Imagine you’re the Bucks. You draft Paul. You play last seasons with Magloire, a variety of terrible 4s, Simmons, Redd, and Paul. TJ Ford is your sixth man. Maybe you got something of value for Mo Williams. Probably no better than a borderline playoff team, just like this year’s team. Add Charlie V, now you’re looking like a very likely playoff team for 06-07 (if the team doesn’t implode). It’s not a championship team, but it’s pretty good.

Now, though, they have a Mo Williams/Charlie Bell PG combo. Both of those guys are backups. Yes, I know, so is Magloire, and a soon-to-be-overpaid one at that. True. But you can afford that at center, not at PG. And, on the topic of the Bucks, Michael Redd is overrated. He is a very good scorer, but you can’t build a champion around him. Or Bogut. Another reason the Bucks should have drafted Chris Paul last year.

Well, the point of this wasn’t to criticize a year-old Bucks draft, but really just the general incompetence of their management. (David Noel seems like an ok second round pick.) That general incompetence is why I’m not a Bucks fan. Instead I have to deal with the brilliance of Sixers president Billy King and the touch of death of Warriors owner/not-quite-Jim-Dolan Chris Cohen. Hooray.

car seems fine

(NOT my car. you know, just in case you were confused.)

AAA guy thinks it was just the heat. I don’t know, with such a new battery and all. It worked today after the jump. will see about tomorrow.

car troubles

arg. (yo ho yo ho a pirate’s life for me.) i went to use my car, but it wouldn’t start. the battery appears to be completely dead. That might not seem like such a big deal, but my battery is only a little more than six months old. And because I’m driving to California in two weeks, it’s a bigger concern. Going to go try to deal with it now.

[I'm stupid. You can't get your car fixed on Sunday. dealing with it tomorrow.]

one:

the moment you’ve all been waiting for:

the number of days I have left at my job.