We are truly Official Residents now. We went to the Mall of America today.
It wasn't our idea. My best friend, Ora, is in town for her nephew's bar mitzvah. She brought along her 8-year-old son, Elias. To sweeten the trip for him, she promised him a couple rides at MOA, so we were happy to oblige today and be their drivers.
Yep, it's a big mall. And, yep, there are amusement park rides in the middle of it (INSIDE!), including a log flume water ride and two roller coasters.
Elias rode the water flume all by himself for the first time. Threw his hands up in the air on the big downward slide at the end and everything.
The sheer enormity of this coliseum of consumerism and all its throngs made me cringe inside my skin, especially on a rainy Saturday. Everyone was pushing a stroller, and holding a coffee beverage or fruit smoothie. But, it was a great place to watch people. Waves and waves of people eddied around us as Ora and Elias rode rides, and I sat with Audrey and Ken, while he fed her a bottle.
After the manufactured perfectionism of LA, folks here are starkly shlubby in comparison. I definitely saw at least 20 women who'd make great makeover candidates on the TLC show, "What Not To Wear." Bad perms. Mom jeans. Bad highlights. Garish, stripey highlights in three tones, a la Ginger Spice from ten years ago. And, this stripey thing goes for the men, too. Go figure? I don't know if people are just getting crazy with the Clairol on their own, or if there are salons that actually charge money for these do's. There must be salons, though, because there were just too many of them to account for only botched-up bathroom jobs.
A very popular and ubiquitous clothing choice is to wear some sort of jersey or sweatshirt with Minnesota written on it. This is true for both men and women. Come to think of it, I saw many couples in matching Minnesota shirts. Other locales, such as Notre Dame or Ohio State make more infrequent appearances. Saw a whole large family in Ohio State sweatshirts. With matching hats, natch.
While observing this phenomenon, I was reminded of visiting my friend, Jocelyn, ten years ago in Midland, Michigan. She pointed out, and I'll never forget, that all the stores there have the word, STORE, in their signs. Grocery Store. Clothing Store. Bait Store. Gun Store. Which made us both wonder, did people there really need the extra clue whenever they ventured out that, yes, indeed, this here is an establishment that sells things? Why, yes Bob, you can come on in and buy stuff here, because this is a store.
Maybe people here easily forget where they are? Or, maybe it's one of those things like one of those radio shows that give you $100 if they find you wearing their moniker on Tuesdays or something!
If Ken and I go out and buy Minnesota shirts tomorrow, I'm gonna be looking for the prizewinners' van to find us...
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Me, too -- what he said
Like Ken said so well below, we're here.
Audrey laughs when she watches the breezes blow through the treetops.
The neighborhood we're living in is full of gingerbread and Victorian houses built in the late 1800s. Most of them are currently inhabited as up-and-down duplexes. Our building is red brick, with six units in it. When you walk in the front door of our unit, you're faced with LOOONNNG hallway, off which, to the left are all the rooms. The living room faces the street, and the kitchen is at the other end. That means a lot of traveling. As soon as you get to one end, you realize you forgot something at the other end. The hardwood floors creak. A LOT. Really, a lot. Ken and I both have tried walking gingerly, walking heavily, walking along either side's wall... nothing doing. Even the cats make noise as they walk. There is no way to travel anywhere in our apartment without making a sound explosion of cracks, creaks and floor farts.
We have more space, though, which is nice.
Still unpacking things. Containers arrived to storage facility a couple days ago, but we haven't visited it, yet. Didn't get the message until yesterday. Cell phone reception in our apartment, and outside in front of it, is marginal at best. There literally is one spot near our front left window in the living room at which I can get one "bar" of reception, sometimes. Also, sometimes I find myself in the Analog Roam realm in the very same spot where I've been in Regular Roamville before. Apparently, cell reception seems to be spotty throughout St. Paul...?
We've been driving around, doing errands, orienting ourselves. We both like the Mac-Groveland and Highland neighborhoods. There are lots of places to walk to like shops, restaurants, grocery stores, hardware stores... We veer from giddy "what if's" about buying a house sooner than later to our original plan of renting a house next, for a year at least, until we get better bearings... And, of course, we don't know where Ken'll work, yet. Or, how long it will take him to find a job. Plus, I've been reading back issues of the local bi-weekly newspaper, and the city is facing a major deficit and has just approved a 14%+ hike in property taxes for 2008. Yikes. Apparently, nothing was raised for over a decade, and now the state has withdrawn funds it used to give the city, and somebody's gotta pay the piper. They're raising city fees, etc. too. So, giddyness is tempered with whoa.
Ken's new study book should arrive next week, and I've set up a meet and greet appointment with a pediatrician for Monday. Opened a bank account two days ago. Joined the Y down the street. Met a couple of the neighbors by the mailboxes. We're slowly getting settled in. Will post pictures once we unpack my Mac!
Audrey laughs when she watches the breezes blow through the treetops.
The neighborhood we're living in is full of gingerbread and Victorian houses built in the late 1800s. Most of them are currently inhabited as up-and-down duplexes. Our building is red brick, with six units in it. When you walk in the front door of our unit, you're faced with LOOONNNG hallway, off which, to the left are all the rooms. The living room faces the street, and the kitchen is at the other end. That means a lot of traveling. As soon as you get to one end, you realize you forgot something at the other end. The hardwood floors creak. A LOT. Really, a lot. Ken and I both have tried walking gingerly, walking heavily, walking along either side's wall... nothing doing. Even the cats make noise as they walk. There is no way to travel anywhere in our apartment without making a sound explosion of cracks, creaks and floor farts.
We have more space, though, which is nice.
Still unpacking things. Containers arrived to storage facility a couple days ago, but we haven't visited it, yet. Didn't get the message until yesterday. Cell phone reception in our apartment, and outside in front of it, is marginal at best. There literally is one spot near our front left window in the living room at which I can get one "bar" of reception, sometimes. Also, sometimes I find myself in the Analog Roam realm in the very same spot where I've been in Regular Roamville before. Apparently, cell reception seems to be spotty throughout St. Paul...?
We've been driving around, doing errands, orienting ourselves. We both like the Mac-Groveland and Highland neighborhoods. There are lots of places to walk to like shops, restaurants, grocery stores, hardware stores... We veer from giddy "what if's" about buying a house sooner than later to our original plan of renting a house next, for a year at least, until we get better bearings... And, of course, we don't know where Ken'll work, yet. Or, how long it will take him to find a job. Plus, I've been reading back issues of the local bi-weekly newspaper, and the city is facing a major deficit and has just approved a 14%+ hike in property taxes for 2008. Yikes. Apparently, nothing was raised for over a decade, and now the state has withdrawn funds it used to give the city, and somebody's gotta pay the piper. They're raising city fees, etc. too. So, giddyness is tempered with whoa.
Ken's new study book should arrive next week, and I've set up a meet and greet appointment with a pediatrician for Monday. Opened a bank account two days ago. Joined the Y down the street. Met a couple of the neighbors by the mailboxes. We're slowly getting settled in. Will post pictures once we unpack my Mac!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
We're now min-eh-SOH-uhns
We made it to St. Paul! But the sooner I can forget the stress of getting two cats, a laptop, and a baby with stroller through LAX's bottlenecked and asinine security checkpoint, the better. So I'm not going to write about that. The flight itself was fine. Cats and baby flew just fine. The iPod went a long way towards taking the edge off my LAX-induced foul mood. Sure is great to have all your music just a few clicks away!
Unfortunately, there were more hassles at this end transferring from one terminal to another, which you might expect would involve just a little indoor walking and/or a door to door tram of some sort. No. To get from baggage claim to the Alamo desk that had our minivan (as opposed to the Alamo desk in the terminal where we landed) we had to walk down many corridors, take a couple of elevator rides, exit the terminal into a huge empty/partially under construction parking structure following temporary "light rail this way" signs where we walked what felt like a mile (and every 20 feet or so there was a big gap in the concrete that caught the wheels of the rented cart I was pushing and threatened to tumble the cats from the top of our pile of luggage onto the concrete deck) , more elevators in brand new frigidly air conditioned spookily Muzak'd and deserted elevator lobbies, then waiting outside on a nearly deserted light rail platform for at least 10 minutes, taking a short (thankfully free) train ride one stop down the line to the main terminal. Getting on and off the train involved more wheel-grabbing gaps - by this time I was so pissed off at this entire ridiculously convoluted inconvenient transfer that I yelled "GODDAMNSONAOFABITCH!!!!!!!" as I kicked that f-ing cart off the train and probably startled some of those nice min-eh-SOH-uhns riding their pretty light rail train from Mall of America to downtown Minneapolis. Eh, they were probably tourists anyway. More walking and probably more elevators I don't remember, but finally we got to the Alamo desk that had our minivan. It was all one gigantic pain in my ass. Lorie seemed much calmer throughout the whole trip mostly just pushing the stroller and otherwise tending to Audrey while I dealt with the cats and all the luggage and the f-ing LAX security nazis.
I will never fly again. This country has gone overboard on the airplane security. Don't you realize that you're more likely to die in a car accident than at the hands of a terrorist on a plane? Even without this hyper security. But no one gives a second thought to hopping in their car and tooling around every day of their lives. Let's get some perspective people! Bushco is training us all to be mindless sheep as they shred the constitution, invade our privacy, imprison, torture, and murder people around the world, punish those who exercise their freedom of speech, and move this country closer and closer to a police state. [A couple of days ago I opened a Target credit card account. The clerk screwed it up royally, and while chatting with the three managers that were called over to straighten it out, they mentioned homeland security could potentially get involved! Because opening a store credit account got screwed up by a moron clerk??!] But don't get me started. If I can't go somewhere by driving or taking a train, I ain't goin'. Nazi homeland security and all the airports and airlines can go down the toilet for all I care. We need more rail transit in the US anyway. It's much more efficient than flying or driving. It's a moot point anyway since peak oil is going to price flying out of our reach soon enough. And don't argue with me about politics -- get your own blog.
Ahh, that felt good to vent a little. Sorry if I sounded crazy, but that's the state of mind that flying puts me in these days. Now you have a tiny idea of how I felt sitting on the floor Sunday morning waiting for our plane.
Where was I?
St. Paul is nice. It's already rained here in five days as many times as it rained in LA in 16 months! There's a nice chill in the air. Our apartment is in an historic neighborhood so most of the houses are big and gingerbread style with detailed paint jobs. Big trees (real trees, not palm trees) line all the streets and create a lush green canopy high overhead. Many cool things are within a short walk. Too bad it looks like we couldn't afford to rent a house right in this neighborhood (they're all too big!), and we don't want our next dwelling to be an apartment. We're sick of too-close neighbors -- not just the noise they make, but we're very self conscious about the noise we make in an apartment -- and that just sucks feeling like you have to tiptoe around and keep the music and tv turned down in your own home.
Looks like we're going to love living in the Twin Cities!
Lorie's been asleep for hours. Time to join her.
Unfortunately, there were more hassles at this end transferring from one terminal to another, which you might expect would involve just a little indoor walking and/or a door to door tram of some sort. No. To get from baggage claim to the Alamo desk that had our minivan (as opposed to the Alamo desk in the terminal where we landed) we had to walk down many corridors, take a couple of elevator rides, exit the terminal into a huge empty/partially under construction parking structure following temporary "light rail this way" signs where we walked what felt like a mile (and every 20 feet or so there was a big gap in the concrete that caught the wheels of the rented cart I was pushing and threatened to tumble the cats from the top of our pile of luggage onto the concrete deck) , more elevators in brand new frigidly air conditioned spookily Muzak'd and deserted elevator lobbies, then waiting outside on a nearly deserted light rail platform for at least 10 minutes, taking a short (thankfully free) train ride one stop down the line to the main terminal. Getting on and off the train involved more wheel-grabbing gaps - by this time I was so pissed off at this entire ridiculously convoluted inconvenient transfer that I yelled "GODDAMNSONAOFABITCH!!!!!!!" as I kicked that f-ing cart off the train and probably startled some of those nice min-eh-SOH-uhns riding their pretty light rail train from Mall of America to downtown Minneapolis. Eh, they were probably tourists anyway. More walking and probably more elevators I don't remember, but finally we got to the Alamo desk that had our minivan. It was all one gigantic pain in my ass. Lorie seemed much calmer throughout the whole trip mostly just pushing the stroller and otherwise tending to Audrey while I dealt with the cats and all the luggage and the f-ing LAX security nazis.
I will never fly again. This country has gone overboard on the airplane security. Don't you realize that you're more likely to die in a car accident than at the hands of a terrorist on a plane? Even without this hyper security. But no one gives a second thought to hopping in their car and tooling around every day of their lives. Let's get some perspective people! Bushco is training us all to be mindless sheep as they shred the constitution, invade our privacy, imprison, torture, and murder people around the world, punish those who exercise their freedom of speech, and move this country closer and closer to a police state. [A couple of days ago I opened a Target credit card account. The clerk screwed it up royally, and while chatting with the three managers that were called over to straighten it out, they mentioned homeland security could potentially get involved! Because opening a store credit account got screwed up by a moron clerk??!] But don't get me started. If I can't go somewhere by driving or taking a train, I ain't goin'. Nazi homeland security and all the airports and airlines can go down the toilet for all I care. We need more rail transit in the US anyway. It's much more efficient than flying or driving. It's a moot point anyway since peak oil is going to price flying out of our reach soon enough. And don't argue with me about politics -- get your own blog.
Ahh, that felt good to vent a little. Sorry if I sounded crazy, but that's the state of mind that flying puts me in these days. Now you have a tiny idea of how I felt sitting on the floor Sunday morning waiting for our plane.
Where was I?
St. Paul is nice. It's already rained here in five days as many times as it rained in LA in 16 months! There's a nice chill in the air. Our apartment is in an historic neighborhood so most of the houses are big and gingerbread style with detailed paint jobs. Big trees (real trees, not palm trees) line all the streets and create a lush green canopy high overhead. Many cool things are within a short walk. Too bad it looks like we couldn't afford to rent a house right in this neighborhood (they're all too big!), and we don't want our next dwelling to be an apartment. We're sick of too-close neighbors -- not just the noise they make, but we're very self conscious about the noise we make in an apartment -- and that just sucks feeling like you have to tiptoe around and keep the music and tv turned down in your own home.
Looks like we're going to love living in the Twin Cities!
Lorie's been asleep for hours. Time to join her.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Still in LA
We're not entirely offline!
Lorie forgot about my wireless laptop and our neighbor's unsecured wireless router, heh heh.
Well, actually, he gave me the password. I'm sitting in our almost totally empty apartment on a beatup old chair that was here when we moved in using a cardboard box as a desk to hold my 7 year old laptop.
High class, bling bling LA livin' yup.
So we just met our second to last frantic deadline: renting a minivan today and packing all our "car stuff" into the cars in time for the trucker to arrive at 5pm and take them away. Once again we needed help at the last minute running stuff down to the cars. Our wonderful neighbor Ivy helped out. God bless people who work at home!
Our next and final frantic deadline will be this Sunday starting at 6am putting cats and baby and two suitcases and pack&play bundle, and diaperbag & laptop softcase into the minivan, returning it to Alamo, catching their shuttle to LAX, passing security, waiting, and getting all that crap onto the plane.
Did I say in a previous post that we'd have 6 days of "fun" in sunny California? HA! It's been about a 3:1 ratio. Three days of stress to meet a deadline, one day of doing maybe one or two fun things.
Lorie forgot about my wireless laptop and our neighbor's unsecured wireless router, heh heh.
Well, actually, he gave me the password. I'm sitting in our almost totally empty apartment on a beatup old chair that was here when we moved in using a cardboard box as a desk to hold my 7 year old laptop.
High class, bling bling LA livin' yup.
So we just met our second to last frantic deadline: renting a minivan today and packing all our "car stuff" into the cars in time for the trucker to arrive at 5pm and take them away. Once again we needed help at the last minute running stuff down to the cars. Our wonderful neighbor Ivy helped out. God bless people who work at home!
Our next and final frantic deadline will be this Sunday starting at 6am putting cats and baby and two suitcases and pack&play bundle, and diaperbag & laptop softcase into the minivan, returning it to Alamo, catching their shuttle to LAX, passing security, waiting, and getting all that crap onto the plane.
Did I say in a previous post that we'd have 6 days of "fun" in sunny California? HA! It's been about a 3:1 ratio. Three days of stress to meet a deadline, one day of doing maybe one or two fun things.
Midwest, ho!
Packing last computer today. Freight truck arrives today to pick up our cars for shipment. Making our last dash toward dismantling our LA lives. Will be offline for probably at least a week...?
Next time we blog, we'll be Midwesterners.
Next time we blog, we'll be Midwesterners.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Celebrity sighting
And now, a frivolous moment from Lorie:
Yesterday, I sat outside with my iced mocha at Peet's Coffee and Tea in Larchmont with my friend, Nicole, and her 7-week-old baby, Audrey next to comedian/actors Andy Richter and Will Arnett. Andy Richter appears slimmer in person.
I soon felt this creeping self-awareness come over me as Nicole and I shared war stories about breastfeeding and which brand has the perfect nipples for bottles (I'm a fan of Dr. Brown's). I was thinking, everyone here is being totally normal about a coupla fairly famous guys gabbing over cups of Joe and sharing some of their own "office gossip." I overheard their conversation sufficiently to gather that little tidbit of intel. Not like I was trying to eavesdrop; I mean, we were sitting right next to each other. But, that proximity, plus the fact that they were fairly famous, made me suddenly acutely self-conscious about the subject(s) of our own conversation. Like, if I'm close enough to overhear snippets of your gabfest (which I could then, like totally, email to a gossip-monger website like Defamer or TMZ or something -- right ha ha), you two must be able to unwillingly overhear our ministrations about stretch marks on our boobs and what to do about baby gas.
Suddenly, I wanted to change the subject. Just until they left.
Aren't I a weirdo?
Yesterday, I sat outside with my iced mocha at Peet's Coffee and Tea in Larchmont with my friend, Nicole, and her 7-week-old baby, Audrey next to comedian/actors Andy Richter and Will Arnett. Andy Richter appears slimmer in person.
I soon felt this creeping self-awareness come over me as Nicole and I shared war stories about breastfeeding and which brand has the perfect nipples for bottles (I'm a fan of Dr. Brown's). I was thinking, everyone here is being totally normal about a coupla fairly famous guys gabbing over cups of Joe and sharing some of their own "office gossip." I overheard their conversation sufficiently to gather that little tidbit of intel. Not like I was trying to eavesdrop; I mean, we were sitting right next to each other. But, that proximity, plus the fact that they were fairly famous, made me suddenly acutely self-conscious about the subject(s) of our own conversation. Like, if I'm close enough to overhear snippets of your gabfest (which I could then, like totally, email to a gossip-monger website like Defamer or TMZ or something -- right ha ha), you two must be able to unwillingly overhear our ministrations about stretch marks on our boobs and what to do about baby gas.
Suddenly, I wanted to change the subject. Just until they left.
Aren't I a weirdo?
Passing the point of no return
Today I sold my entire CD collection. Over 400 discs. I've ripped them all onto my computer and loaded all those files onto a 30GB iPod. And today I committed to the MP3 format by selling the discs. For a serious music lover like me, this is a major milestone: making the transition from one recording format to the next. I bought my first CD around 1984 I think. 26 years.
I'm not sure how I feel about this but
The MP3 format is another step in the ongoing progression of recording/playback technology that takes the musical experience away from the human This progression is giving us convenience and miniaturization, but it's taking away...
...ah heck, I just don't have the time or patience right now to organize the essay that's swirling in my head right now on this subject. Maybe you can write it for me. What, if anything, do you think we're losing in this progression from vinyl record, to reel-to-reel, to 8-track, to cassette, to CD, to MP3?
The rest of this is alittle rough.
Amoeba Music record store...
"This is a great collection and it's in great shape!" he said that more than once. I was flattered and proud. He pulled out one particular disc from an obscure DC band. "This was a great band! I've been looking for this disc!" We reminisced a little about that band.
I was proud that he was impressed with my collection and how well I've cared for it. We agreed on the price and he went in the back to cut a check for me. While I waited I was so tired and sore from the last two days' of packing that I slumped over the counter in front of the tall stacks he had made of my CDs. My eyes wandered from title to title as random memories bubbled up. I used to play this disc a lot in college on my first CD player connected to my boombox (the same boombox featured in the movie "Say Anything.") This other disc has a major printing mistake on the cover. That one has skewed tracking: all the tracks start about 15 seconds into each song. Ooops -- that one still has tree sap sprinkles on the edge from 1987 when I used to keep my collection in milk crates under a potted ficus tree; thought I had cleaned all those! This one really gets my heart going. That one calms me down. This one takes me to another plane of existence with its mind-boggling art rock compositions.
These discs were my friends and companions; at various times my consolers, energizers, facilitators. "This IS a great collection," I thought.
The buyer came back. "Saying goodbye?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
He handed me my check and as I walked down to the garage... maybe I was just over tired, but for a few seconds there I felt like crying. Goodbye old friends. Your spirits live in this iPod, but your physical manifestations (the cool jewel cases, the paper flipbooks, and the slick plastic discs with their magical pits) are now gone forever.
I'd like to thank my musical parents and my three older musician/brothers for establishing a solid music appreciation foundation in me. Music has brought me intense joy.
I'm not sure how I feel about this but
The MP3 format is another step in the ongoing progression of recording/playback technology that takes the musical experience away from the human This progression is giving us convenience and miniaturization, but it's taking away...
...ah heck, I just don't have the time or patience right now to organize the essay that's swirling in my head right now on this subject. Maybe you can write it for me. What, if anything, do you think we're losing in this progression from vinyl record, to reel-to-reel, to 8-track, to cassette, to CD, to MP3?
The rest of this is alittle rough.
Amoeba Music record store...
"This is a great collection and it's in great shape!" he said that more than once. I was flattered and proud. He pulled out one particular disc from an obscure DC band. "This was a great band! I've been looking for this disc!" We reminisced a little about that band.
I was proud that he was impressed with my collection and how well I've cared for it. We agreed on the price and he went in the back to cut a check for me. While I waited I was so tired and sore from the last two days' of packing that I slumped over the counter in front of the tall stacks he had made of my CDs. My eyes wandered from title to title as random memories bubbled up. I used to play this disc a lot in college on my first CD player connected to my boombox (the same boombox featured in the movie "Say Anything.") This other disc has a major printing mistake on the cover. That one has skewed tracking: all the tracks start about 15 seconds into each song. Ooops -- that one still has tree sap sprinkles on the edge from 1987 when I used to keep my collection in milk crates under a potted ficus tree; thought I had cleaned all those! This one really gets my heart going. That one calms me down. This one takes me to another plane of existence with its mind-boggling art rock compositions.
These discs were my friends and companions; at various times my consolers, energizers, facilitators. "This IS a great collection," I thought.
The buyer came back. "Saying goodbye?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
He handed me my check and as I walked down to the garage... maybe I was just over tired, but for a few seconds there I felt like crying. Goodbye old friends. Your spirits live in this iPod, but your physical manifestations (the cool jewel cases, the paper flipbooks, and the slick plastic discs with their magical pits) are now gone forever.
I'd like to thank my musical parents and my three older musician/brothers for establishing a solid music appreciation foundation in me. Music has brought me intense joy.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Post Load
We've loaded the two containers (with the help of two amazing friends: Heather and Markell!) and what's left will go in our cars or to Goodwill. Tomorrow (today Monday 9/17) they pick up the containers and whisk them off to St. Paul. Lorie's asleep and my fingertips are pink and no longer have prints. Now's the time to rob a bank I guess! Less than half a block away I have my choice
of B.O.A or WAMU. I better pick the former since we have an account with the latter. Pop Quiz: which bank do we have an account with? Some day I want to have a Hawiian-themed party with tiki torches where everyone wears Hawaiian shirts and we serve maitais and pina coladas and cook things on a hibachi grill and show Elvis island videos in the background like "Blue Hawaii." I went to a party like that once. It was fun. For someone who hates sun and sand (and friggin' palm trees) , I really love "island theme." Go figure. Maybe it's the late night beach bonfires that seem so appealing. With Gail March playing guitar and singing John Denver! Take a solo Ari! That would be the best. Did you hear OJ Simpson has just been arrested for armed robbery at a hotel? What's up with that freak? Another LA weirdo I guess. I miss our TV already, but talk radio is pretty good. I'm so relieved we're packed and loaded. Now it's just me and Lorie and Audrey and the cats and an inflatable mattress (and this iMac) and 6 fun-filled days in sunny California!!!! Let's hope I don't fall in love with LA over the next few days!It's almost 2am. Can you tell I'm tired and punchy? I should go to bed now.
k
Bye bye LA!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Moving Day -- The Before Photos
MOVING DAY:
Ken scurried about all night like a field mouse last night and rearranged all our crap and took his own photos.
The view from the other direction.
And here, Audrey demonstrates the latest talent she has. Even at her age, I don't think I was ever limber enough to kiss my own toes.
*******************
S.P. minus 6 days!
*******************
.
Ken scurried about all night like a field mouse last night and rearranged all our crap and took his own photos.
The view from the other direction.
And here, Audrey demonstrates the latest talent she has. Even at her age, I don't think I was ever limber enough to kiss my own toes.
*******************
S.P. minus 6 days!
*******************
.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
The last big push
Moving containers are supposed to arrive this afternoon.
This is the current state of our home (and brains, too):
Tomorrow, we do the heavy loading, and the apartment will become mostly empty.
Tick tock, tick tock...
This is the current state of our home (and brains, too):
Tomorrow, we do the heavy loading, and the apartment will become mostly empty.
Tick tock, tick tock...
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
MCSE Update: Exam 6 of 6, part 2, DAMMIT!
DAMMITDAMMITDAMMITDAMMITDAMMITDAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!
Yup. Failed again.
DAMMIT!
What really pisses me off is I spent a week restudying this stuff and I got the
EXACT SAME CRUMMY SCORE TODAY THAT I GOT LAST TUESDAY!!!
DAMMIT!!
HOW DAMMIT IS DAMMIT THAT DAMMIT POSSIBLE!?
DAMMIT!!!
Obviously I can't claim unfamiliarity with the test format this time. I let the questions guide my scanning of the information, and that seemed to work pretty well. I didn't feel as rushed and didn't have to scramble in the last few seconds of any testlet to randomly fill in answers.
The exam covers four main topics or sections. On my first attempt I did pretty uniformly mediocre in all four sections. On my second attempt, I did significantly worse in the first two sections and significantly better (passing I assume) in the other two sections. So, that's sort of encouraging and discouraging at the same time, which is to say, "DAMMIT!!!!"
At this point I don't know what I'm going to do. Since this exam is all about being the "point man" who designs & implements new networks or major network upgrades (I don't really want to be the "point man", but I do want to work with the "point man") I could just stop here and work full time with the MCSA certification I earned a couple of exams ago. I've certainly learned enough to make good money right now. But I'm so close to finishing the MCSE!! So close! I could work full time and continue studying for this exam in my free time (joy!) - perhaps using a different book and training software for a new perspective. Or I could continue studying full time for this exam until I beat it, get my MCSE, and go out and get the best job possible. Since I have to wait 14 days before taking any exam a third time, there's nothing I can do about it here in LA.
At least now I can focus on preparing to move - there's still much to be done.
*******************
S.P. minus 11 days!
*******************
.
Yup. Failed again.
DAMMIT!
What really pisses me off is I spent a week restudying this stuff and I got the
EXACT SAME CRUMMY SCORE TODAY THAT I GOT LAST TUESDAY!!!
DAMMIT!!
HOW DAMMIT IS DAMMIT THAT DAMMIT POSSIBLE!?
DAMMIT!!!
Obviously I can't claim unfamiliarity with the test format this time. I let the questions guide my scanning of the information, and that seemed to work pretty well. I didn't feel as rushed and didn't have to scramble in the last few seconds of any testlet to randomly fill in answers.
The exam covers four main topics or sections. On my first attempt I did pretty uniformly mediocre in all four sections. On my second attempt, I did significantly worse in the first two sections and significantly better (passing I assume) in the other two sections. So, that's sort of encouraging and discouraging at the same time, which is to say, "DAMMIT!!!!"
At this point I don't know what I'm going to do. Since this exam is all about being the "point man" who designs & implements new networks or major network upgrades (I don't really want to be the "point man", but I do want to work with the "point man") I could just stop here and work full time with the MCSA certification I earned a couple of exams ago. I've certainly learned enough to make good money right now. But I'm so close to finishing the MCSE!! So close! I could work full time and continue studying for this exam in my free time (joy!) - perhaps using a different book and training software for a new perspective. Or I could continue studying full time for this exam until I beat it, get my MCSE, and go out and get the best job possible. Since I have to wait 14 days before taking any exam a third time, there's nothing I can do about it here in LA.
At least now I can focus on preparing to move - there's still much to be done.
*******************
S.P. minus 11 days!
*******************
.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Movie review
Ken held down the fort today with our Little Shmoo, so I could go to the movies with my friend, Sara. Thank you, Ken!
We saw "3:10 to Yuma" and "Stardust." The latter just couldn't compete with the former for overall satisfaction.
I left "Yuma" with that wistful, sad-happy feeling -- where you finally, reluctantly get up to leave the theater after the film, though you're not quite ready to leave its "world," yet. I wanted to sit down somewhere and replay scenes from it over and over in my head. Christian Bale's face has a haunting quality. It's all angular and handsome without being too pretty. It's a terrific tableau upon which to watch his/his character's emotions and unspoken thoughts canvas across. And, Russell, well, he's Mr. Charismatic. His character isn't cuddly, but he is charming; and, he's a killer, but not without surprises. One totally can appreciate how his gang comes to follow him so loyally.
"Stardust" was cute, and fun - but, I thought it's pacing was uneven. And, its execution didn't live up to how well the script read to me when I read it at Paramount months and months and months ago. Cute just couldn't compete with wistful, man-that-was-a-good mano a mano action/character piece movie today.
Now it's time to take my ate-too-much-popcorn-and-now-I-feel-all-bloaty self to bed. :)
We saw "3:10 to Yuma" and "Stardust." The latter just couldn't compete with the former for overall satisfaction.
I left "Yuma" with that wistful, sad-happy feeling -- where you finally, reluctantly get up to leave the theater after the film, though you're not quite ready to leave its "world," yet. I wanted to sit down somewhere and replay scenes from it over and over in my head. Christian Bale's face has a haunting quality. It's all angular and handsome without being too pretty. It's a terrific tableau upon which to watch his/his character's emotions and unspoken thoughts canvas across. And, Russell, well, he's Mr. Charismatic. His character isn't cuddly, but he is charming; and, he's a killer, but not without surprises. One totally can appreciate how his gang comes to follow him so loyally.
"Stardust" was cute, and fun - but, I thought it's pacing was uneven. And, its execution didn't live up to how well the script read to me when I read it at Paramount months and months and months ago. Cute just couldn't compete with wistful, man-that-was-a-good mano a mano action/character piece movie today.
Now it's time to take my ate-too-much-popcorn-and-now-I-feel-all-bloaty self to bed. :)
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Bananas for bananas
I now have remnants of banana-scented baby drool all over my left cheek. Bananas were a big hit with Audrey tonight. She ate the whole tiny jar and then happily bounced up and down in my arms afterward for some burpin' and kissin' on Mommy. God, did I laugh. At one point, my nose was fully immersed in her open mouth while she clamped her fingers on and off on my neck. So much fun.
Had a Girls Shopping Excursion with her this afternoon. We had a leftover Macy's gift credit, and I took Audrey to search for a new sun hat (as her current one is going to be too small soon enough). But, lo! No sun hats at Macy's infant department! What sort of infant/baby department doesn't stock sun hats? Hell, there were muy expensive Ralph Lauren booties, but no sun hats. All manner of fluffy receiving blankets, but no sun hats. Infant sandals, but no sun hats! Losers.
I wanted to use this stupid gift credit TODAY, so I couldn't lose or forget the damn thing before/during our move.
Never fear. We handily switched gears and used the store credit to buy a warmish fleece jacket and pants - for the cold weather to come in MN. It's pink and green, with a hood. Should be good layering pieces. I was hoping to maybe score a snowsuit or something similar, but they "didn't have those in stock, yet." Big surprise.
Found a new sun hat on sale at Gymboree on our way out of the mall. Yay. It's three shades of pink, with ruffles, can you stand it? Ha ha.
Stopped off at Whole Foods for fancy eco-friendly diapers on way home. Saw Carol from "The Bob Newhart Show" over by the salad/hot food bar. I had no idea she voices Mrs. Krabappel on The Simpsons these days, among other things. D'Oh!
Oh, also compared sugar contents of different yogurts with this guy and his young son in the dairy aisle. We agreed that the Australian ones - Wallaby Organics - have the least sugars added to them. Aren't you relieved?
Had a Girls Shopping Excursion with her this afternoon. We had a leftover Macy's gift credit, and I took Audrey to search for a new sun hat (as her current one is going to be too small soon enough). But, lo! No sun hats at Macy's infant department! What sort of infant/baby department doesn't stock sun hats? Hell, there were muy expensive Ralph Lauren booties, but no sun hats. All manner of fluffy receiving blankets, but no sun hats. Infant sandals, but no sun hats! Losers.
I wanted to use this stupid gift credit TODAY, so I couldn't lose or forget the damn thing before/during our move.
Never fear. We handily switched gears and used the store credit to buy a warmish fleece jacket and pants - for the cold weather to come in MN. It's pink and green, with a hood. Should be good layering pieces. I was hoping to maybe score a snowsuit or something similar, but they "didn't have those in stock, yet." Big surprise.
Found a new sun hat on sale at Gymboree on our way out of the mall. Yay. It's three shades of pink, with ruffles, can you stand it? Ha ha.
Stopped off at Whole Foods for fancy eco-friendly diapers on way home. Saw Carol from "The Bob Newhart Show" over by the salad/hot food bar. I had no idea she voices Mrs. Krabappel on The Simpsons these days, among other things. D'Oh!
Oh, also compared sugar contents of different yogurts with this guy and his young son in the dairy aisle. We agreed that the Australian ones - Wallaby Organics - have the least sugars added to them. Aren't you relieved?
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Picnic with Tracy and Lisa and Jack
...something completely positive...
Last week Lorie and Audrey and I had a lovely picnic with Lisa and Tracy and Lisa's nephew Jack (pictured). We spread out two large blankets in a small, clean park in Culver City and lounged around eating delicious vegan food that Lisa had made (yum!) and playing with Jack and Audrey. It hadn't really rained in LA for over 365 days, but it tried to rain that day of course! No problem. It only rained lightly for a few minutes and we were under a big lush tree so we didn't really get wet. Besides, Lorie and I love cloudy skies and ominous winds. Here's a viddy of Tracy giving some love to Audrey. Cuteness.
.
Last week Lorie and Audrey and I had a lovely picnic with Lisa and Tracy and Lisa's nephew Jack (pictured). We spread out two large blankets in a small, clean park in Culver City and lounged around eating delicious vegan food that Lisa had made (yum!) and playing with Jack and Audrey. It hadn't really rained in LA for over 365 days, but it tried to rain that day of course! No problem. It only rained lightly for a few minutes and we were under a big lush tree so we didn't really get wet. Besides, Lorie and I love cloudy skies and ominous winds. Here's a viddy of Tracy giving some love to Audrey. Cuteness.
.
Interview Update
I didn't get the job.
It's okay.
I'm disappointed; but, I had a niggling feeling... It really was one of the best interviews I've ever had, and I really enjoyed talking with them about what needed to be done, improved, expanded, etc. They said it was a horse race between me and one other candidate -- but, they went with the other one b/c he/she is more familiar with the local film community.
I went down to the pool to exercise this morning and said to my Guides, "Whatever decision is in our highest good for Ken, Audrey, and me, so be it." So, there you have it. It's in our highest good for me not to get this job, and that's okay.
Still, its time to go get an iced mocha.
It's okay.
I'm disappointed; but, I had a niggling feeling... It really was one of the best interviews I've ever had, and I really enjoyed talking with them about what needed to be done, improved, expanded, etc. They said it was a horse race between me and one other candidate -- but, they went with the other one b/c he/she is more familiar with the local film community.
I went down to the pool to exercise this morning and said to my Guides, "Whatever decision is in our highest good for Ken, Audrey, and me, so be it." So, there you have it. It's in our highest good for me not to get this job, and that's okay.
Still, its time to go get an iced mocha.
MCSE Update: Exam 6 of 6, "The Danging"
dang.
dang.
dang.
dang.
dang.
failed it.
I mean I really failed it. 700 was passing and I got 506.
Ouch.
:(
But this score actually feels better than if I'd only failed by a few points. THAT would have really pissed me off, because I knew right away I'd answered a few questions wrong and those could have made the difference. But no, I failed this one with plenty of room to spare, so I'm strangely relieved! I went into this test feeling pretty confident, unlike some of the others that I passed, so something was up this time and I think I know what it was.
The format of this exam was very different from the other five. I've never seen it before. It was not just a string of 40 or so questions with a single countdown clock like all the others. This exam was divided into six "testlets," as Microsoft called them, each with its own countdown clock and about seven questions. Each testlet came with a tremendous amount of text and graphics describing a fictional company and their existing IT environment, as well as their desires/requirements for an upgraded network that I would provide.
I think my biggest mistake was in trying to read and absorb the multiple screens of information before concentrating on the questions. It was just too much information - much of it irrelevant to the questions! All that reading and re-reading wasted a lot of time, so on at least three of the testlets I ran out of time and clicked the remaining answers almost randomly so at least they weren't blank. Given more time I would have gotten many more questions right, but I felt a little flustered and rushed the whole time.
Adding to my unease with the format, at one point I clicked on a couple of prompts that I thought I understood, and "POP" I was back at the welcome screen for the entire exam! Agggghhh! When I saw this I thought I had just ended the exam prematurely! In a panic I ran out of the room to get the proctor. She came in, clicked a couple of things and I was on to the next testlet. Whew! But more time wasted and more unease.
Well, now that I'm familiar with navigating the information, next time I will let key words in the questions drive my scanning of the information, rather than trying to absorb all the information first. I think that will give me the time I need to calmly pull the knowledge out of my brain that I know is in there.
Given the firm deadline of our move to St. Paul and the retake policies of Microsoft, I expect to only have one more chance to pass this exam in LA. I'll probably study for another week - focusing on the computer-based practice tests, and retake this exam around Wednesday 12th.
dang. I'm so close to the end I can taste the impending pride and relief.
*****************
S.P. minus 17 days
*****************
.
dang.
dang.
dang.
dang.
failed it.
I mean I really failed it. 700 was passing and I got 506.
Ouch.
:(
But this score actually feels better than if I'd only failed by a few points. THAT would have really pissed me off, because I knew right away I'd answered a few questions wrong and those could have made the difference. But no, I failed this one with plenty of room to spare, so I'm strangely relieved! I went into this test feeling pretty confident, unlike some of the others that I passed, so something was up this time and I think I know what it was.
The format of this exam was very different from the other five. I've never seen it before. It was not just a string of 40 or so questions with a single countdown clock like all the others. This exam was divided into six "testlets," as Microsoft called them, each with its own countdown clock and about seven questions. Each testlet came with a tremendous amount of text and graphics describing a fictional company and their existing IT environment, as well as their desires/requirements for an upgraded network that I would provide.
I think my biggest mistake was in trying to read and absorb the multiple screens of information before concentrating on the questions. It was just too much information - much of it irrelevant to the questions! All that reading and re-reading wasted a lot of time, so on at least three of the testlets I ran out of time and clicked the remaining answers almost randomly so at least they weren't blank. Given more time I would have gotten many more questions right, but I felt a little flustered and rushed the whole time.
Adding to my unease with the format, at one point I clicked on a couple of prompts that I thought I understood, and "POP" I was back at the welcome screen for the entire exam! Agggghhh! When I saw this I thought I had just ended the exam prematurely! In a panic I ran out of the room to get the proctor. She came in, clicked a couple of things and I was on to the next testlet. Whew! But more time wasted and more unease.
Well, now that I'm familiar with navigating the information, next time I will let key words in the questions drive my scanning of the information, rather than trying to absorb all the information first. I think that will give me the time I need to calmly pull the knowledge out of my brain that I know is in there.
Given the firm deadline of our move to St. Paul and the retake policies of Microsoft, I expect to only have one more chance to pass this exam in LA. I'll probably study for another week - focusing on the computer-based practice tests, and retake this exam around Wednesday 12th.
dang. I'm so close to the end I can taste the impending pride and relief.
*****************
S.P. minus 17 days
*****************
.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Catchin' up with photos & videos
We fell way behind with the pics & videos.
Everybody's been getting in some quality Audrey time!
Here are some of the best images ...
Lorie's Mom, Phoenix, June 30:
Ken's Family, Maryland, July:
Ken's Parents' 55th Anniversary Party, July27:
Video of Audrey's first time in the "Portable Fun UltraSaucer Happy Play Center"
(about a week ago):
A Visit To The Pool With Friend Sara, three days ago:
... all done!
Audrey's Screensaver O' The Week (8 weeks old - first road trip ):
Audrey's Pic O' The Week:
"Who Are You, And Why Are You Screaming At Me?!?!"
.
Everybody's been getting in some quality Audrey time!
Here are some of the best images ...
Lorie's Mom, Phoenix, June 30:
Ken's Family, Maryland, July:
Ken's Parents' 55th Anniversary Party, July27:
Video of Audrey's first time in the "Portable Fun UltraSaucer Happy Play Center"
(about a week ago):
A Visit To The Pool With Friend Sara, three days ago:
... all done!Audrey's Screensaver O' The Week (8 weeks old - first road trip ):
Audrey's Pic O' The Week:
"Who Are You, And Why Are You Screaming At Me?!?!"
.
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