Channel mania... I feel so dirty.

I've been living without television for several years now. But while I crash at my aunt's place, I can sort through the umpteen-thousand channels available on the space... dish... television... machine.

Seriously. This is an unreasonable amount of entertainment.

I can tell you the proper steps to make swiss, gouda and cheddar cheeses separately. Should you need anyone to fashion a hydroelectric dam on a large river in western Mexico, I will happily do it. I can show you the best way to catch catfish in Borneo and I really had no idea the Tour de France was so freaking long. Diving competitions, surf competitions, Paul Newman's cookie factory and lunar landings are all... three feet away. With Harold and Kumar keeping me company, I sit here and recall the design for the indoor ski resort in Dubai. I saw two guys create quicksand and I saw a man create a cake robot.

It's endless.

I've been helping my aunt around the house and around her office this week. She's in charge of moving her office into a new building and it's way too much work for one person. She's been pretty much the go-to person for any old thing, whether it fits her job description or not. And her health is suffering because of it. So I've been going up there and helping her coworkers pack stuff, load stuff, etc... just making sure she can think straight. I'm heading down there tomorrow and I think we're transporting a refrigerator. I was told I need to be there before noon so I can partake in the office pizza party. It will be done.

This evening, I left on my bike at about 5:45 and just explored. This area, Montgomery Village, is rife with paved walking paths that wind through the woods between several neighborhoods. The slow rolling hills and the hand-crafted, wooden fences could easily be mistaken for a neighborhood in Colorado. The only difference is the background. There's only one mountain in Maryland and it's not really visible unless you're actively looking for it.

The heat here has been pretty comparable to the Texas summer. I was just about soaked by the time I got back from my ride about 45 minutes later. I've yet to get into the city on the metro and honestly don't know if I'll be able to do it before I leave on Saturday.

I have absolutely no idea what to expect on my trip. I know I'm going to swim a bunch. And I might sleep a lot. I saw an episode of a show called "Aerial America," which I didn't know existed until tonight, in which a helicopter flies over a particular destination. The show tonight was on Hawaii. And... I'm super excited.


Anyway, I'm staying as busy as possible in anticipation of the trip. I'm hanging out with family and have played the guitar a couple times. It felt a little foreign after the drive up, to be honest. But, all is well. And... I'm getting ready for about a 12 hour flight on Saturday :)

Paradise City

Against all odds, I made it to the East coast this week.


Now I'm just sitting here, reflecting and generally attempting to process what seems to be a new world altogether. I commented on the air quality to my sister this afternoon on the phone. I spent a lot of time in New England growing up and, although the DC area is considered southerly, there is an absolute richness to the smell of the air. The soil and the grass are thick and the fir trees sit close to the ground. I have a sagittarian fantasy to crawl under one and take a nap.

The drive up was pretty nice. The car did well and the scenery, the bits I could actually see, were beautiful. But it rained horribly both nights. Driving into Nashville, I had to buddy up to the 18 wheelers and follow their tail lights because I was not willing to drive slow enough to see the actual lines on the road. This notion seemed completely unreasonable at the time. I effectively tailgated the truckers completely blind through the hills of Tennessee. Given that I had already been on the road for about ten hours, this was exactly what I needed to stay alert...

Other noteworthy events are as follows:

*gas gauge failed and car died with what appeared to have been a quarter of a tank left 55 miles outside of Austin (yesss AAA)
*rekindled my love for Sunkist
*hit 86mph in Virginia (cause im a badass)
*experienced some priceless right-wing talk radio ("Thank goodness that World Cup is over.")
*got "Freebird" and "Paradise City" in Arkansas
*power went out at the hotel in Nashville, children got stuck in the elevator, got locked out of the room, could not eat my pizza
*powered through flash flooding just South of DC


I found a place to stay today. All the places up here are considerably more expensive just because of the geography. But I'm really happy with this place. It's super close to the metro station so I'll be able to get into DC proper to play in traffic on my bike. And you can imagine my surprise when I saw the freaking FIOS modem IN the damn room :D I'm pretty ecstatic. The owner is a super cool older lady whose son is in grad school in Michigan. The room is abnormally large and... it's maybe a mile and a half from my new office. I can now say with confidence that chewing industrial leather will indeed keep you alive if and when sustenance is scarce.

I've visited with my grandparents, cousins and aunt :) My grandfather, 90 years old, shot a hole in one the other day when he went out for his customary 18. We went out and got some Chinese food and he told me stories about hotels in Hong Kong and India in the 60s. He told me about the time when, 72 years ago, he drove his brother's fiance and her mother across the country from Rhode Island to Ventura, California. He said he got the car up to 100 going across South Dakota and he made the women think he was a ravenous bear by scratching on the screen at a camping cabin in Yellowstone National. Entertainment is comfortably cheap on long road trips. Gram's still dancing and they're both rocking the internet every day.

I'm not starting the new job until late August but I went in for an orientation of sorts yesterday. Paul and I went over all the network architecture and I got a good idea of the scale of the operation. It was a really long day but I ate it all up. I'm really excited to get started. But... it will just have to wait for the time being.


Audrey is taking me and my mom to Hawaii :) My mom is still in a slow state of recovery after she was rear-ended... I think over a year ago now. It took some serious maneuvering to convince her to brave the trip out there. But now that the dates are set, she's been feeling better mentally. Auds said I've been working too hard in general over the last couple/few years and that I needed a clean slate before starting the new job. This will indeed by my last hurrah before digging into a virtual timewarp of instances where that little man from Princess Bride says, "Inconceivable!" We're going to the island of Kauai, leaving next Saturday, and I'm going to spend much of the time in the water. This next week I'm going to take the metro into the city and sightsee. I've... been... sorta chomping at the bit.

>> no music?