Matt’s Side Trip to Virginia, April 4-7, 2010 (Days 24-27)

So, we haven’t been updating recently, because not much has been going on. Sam has been studying and I have been relaxing. Boring stuff for our friends and family to read. I did have to fly out to DC this week, though. I had called the moving people last week and found out the two pallets worth of our stuff had arrived in Manassas. They needed to be picked up at the terminal or the storage fees were going to start accumulating. It would cost $500 for the moving company to take the two pallets in a storage facility for us. I could still use dad’s Delta benefits, so a quick trip to DC it is!

Flew out of Palm Springs on Sunday afternoon. On a side note, an early afternoon flight felt really strange. Every flight out-of-state out of the Anchorage airport leaves sometime between the hours of 11pm and 2am. Those red-eye flights get tedious, so this 12:30pm flight was rather awesome. Got the last stand-by seat available, so the trip is off to a good start. Got into Salt Lake where I had a 2 hour layover. I spent the entire layover doing a fantasy baseball draft with some of my college buddies. We had to move the draft time at the last minute thanks to my late scheduled trip. Free wifi at the SLC airport now! Of course, it is really slow and takes the equivalent of a long layover to connect. For the second time today, I got the last stand-by seat on the plane. The airport gods were being kind to me. I even got a seat in an exit row! Of course, right before I boarded the plane, I learn that there had been an earthquake in SoCal. I was already the last one on the plane, so I couldn’t stand out by the gate to get more information out of CNN. Got a text from Sam about the earthquake, with no more information. She would not pick up her phone. I finally got some more info while on the plane when I called Sam’s mom and was able to talk to Sam. Everyone is alright. Good enough for me. I’ll now follow orders and turn my phone off.

Got into Dulles around 11pm. I had checked two bags full of winter clothes and dress clothes that would be unnecessary for the rest of the trip. Both bags made it without issue and were off the carousel rather quickly. Hadn’t seen dad since Thanksgiving, so it was nice to see him again.

The time change screwed with me the entire trip. On Monday morning, I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep because of the light. Got up anyway on the lack of sleep and went with dad to pick up the truck. Dad had already secured a storage facility for our stuff (along with some of dad’s stuff, which he had been meaning to get out of the house). The facility had a u-haul type truck that could be reserved for free. We had it for Monday. We took the truck home first to grab some of dad’s stuff to take to the storage unit. Then, over to the receiving dock to get the pallets. Both pallets worth of stuff fit into one load with the truck. We had all our stuff in the storage unit before noon. But, since we had a free truck for a day, dad wanted to take advantage. Dad’s bedroom set was older than me. He and mom had had since before I was born. So, it was time for it to be replaced. We took it all apart and moved it into the truck, so it could be taken to the Salvation Army. These dressers were heavy and not easy to get down from the upper level of a 3 level condo. The walls took some damage from the ordeal. Thankfully, dad’s neighbor came over and helped with the final dresser after dad had drawn blood. The moving was successful, so we celebrated by getting lunch at Chick-fil-A and watching Opening Day for the rest of the afternoon. Caught the national title game, as well. The Yankees have won the last World Series and Dook is now the reigning national champion in basketball. The terrorists have won.

I had another rough night. My room was too hot and I managed to get a nasty headache, which didn’t seem to want to go away. My headache was so bad by morning that I actually went to Safeway at 6am to get some Excedrin and PowerAde. Dad only had asprin in the house, which wasn’t working. Excedrin may be the greatest headache reliever ever. I cannot believe it took me so long to realize the greatness of Excedrin. Sam introduced me to it about 6 months ago, and I will never go back to Tylenol or Advil. Trust me, get some Excedrin for your medicine cabinet, and thank me the next time you have a headache. After popping the Excedrin and downing some sports drink, I crashed out until almost 11 and woke up feeling great. We had shipped about 10 boxes via USPS for the media rates (cheaper than adding it to the pallet), and some from Sequim to get stuff out of the car. Sam needed me to search these boxes for 3 books to help her study for her exam. She was kind enough to send me pictures of the covers after copying them from some website like Amazon. I had to search all the boxes with books at least twice over to find all of them. One of them was hiding in a box full of my law books. But, at least I found all three. I took all the boxes to the storage unit with the family Honda. I was pretty amazed that I managed to get the 10 boxes into the Prelude with only one trip. I then took off for Trader Joe’s, so I could make a healthy, yet delicious dinner. Got some chicken apple sausage, onion, apples and juice to combine and throw over rice. On the way back, I took a wrong turn off the freeway going into Manassas and discovered an amphitheater. Actually, I discovered Nissan Pavilion (or is it Jiffy Lube Live?). Whatever the corporate sponsorship for the venue, this is where Pearl Jam is playing in May. I had no idea it was so close. So close (3.5 miles to my dad’s front door according to Google maps) that is within walking distance for us. Glad I made that wrong turn and learned something useful. I caved and watched Lost tonight without Sam. Dad fell asleep in the recliner as usual. I was too awake to go to bed early after sleeping in this morning. This is a problem with an early flight out of Dulles Wednesday morning. I watched the Daily Show, Colbert Report and some Sports Center, but still not tired. Forced myself to be by 1. Hopefully I can sleep on the plane.

Up at 4am Wednesday morning! Got to the airport plenty early because Dad had to drop me off, then be at the office early for a conference. Got a call from dad while I was sitting at the gate. My connecting flight from SLC to Palm Springs was now oversold and almost impossible for a stand-by passenger to get on. Great. Fortunately, there was a clear flight that left at about the same time to Ontario, California, which is about an hour and a half drive from Palm Springs. So, just switch the reservation (which cost less than $2), and we were good to go. Sam would have to drive out to pick me up, but at least she could exchange her Keens for a pair that fit correctly and we both could get some Chick-fil-A (Ontario is near that REI I went to last week). Well, my flight luck continued. Much to my surprise, I was cleared for my first flight in first class. Sweet! I get breakfast and a comfy seat. Downloaded some podcasts from ESPN and NPR for the trip and I was ready to board. Sadly Dulles did not have free wifi. Cost me $6 to get on the net and download my podcasts. Upon boarding, I learned that the same plane that I was on was also my connecting flight to Ontario. I would still have to get off and be stand-by cleared again, but at least the gate wouldn’t be far. Got into Salt Lake just to learn that for some reason, my connecting flight was cancelled. Wait, wasn’t that the same plane that I was just on? Did we narrowly avoid death and not know about it? I ran down to gate for my original flight to Palm Springs to see if I could get relisted. Just as I was getting to the gate, my name was called as a cleared stand-by passenger. Guess I was never unlisted for that flight. And I was cleared without even having to talk to the gate agent. I have been lucky on this trip…
Or so I thought. After getting on the plane, the older guy sitting next to me strikes up a conversation. It was the usual getting to know you stuff that you have on a plane. Right after takeoff, though, I got the dreaded question; “Do you pray? Do you believe in Jesus?” Ugh! How long is this flight? There is nothing worse than being stuck on a plane, sitting next to someone who wants to beat you over the head with their religious or political views. I humored him for 10-15 minutes, before finally sticking my headphones in my ears, because “I really wanted to finish the NPR Fresh Air podcast that I had been listening to.” It was only a half lie. I did listen to an NPR podcast to tune him out, but started a brand new one. I had no idea what I was going to listen to when I turned my iPod on, but that Fresh Air podcast about Right Wing extremism was really interesting. I had to endure some more of that conversation when the flight attendant made me turn off the iPod for landing. I was never confrontational the entire time. 20 year-old Matt would have been in a heated argument, but I sucked it up and humored the guy the entire time. Maybe I have matured a little in the last 10 years.

Sam picked me up from the airport, and it was great to see her again. Even just a few days apart can be too long sometimes. Her sister, Ashley, was now at the house with us. So, her parents now have to endure both their adult children and me. I tried sitting out in the sun and swimming in the pool for a bit this afternoon, but was just beat from the early morning and the travel. I downloaded the last episode of Lost for Sam, since she hadn’t seen it yet. I made it about 10 minutes in before I was out. Guess it was a good thing I had already watched it.

Up Next: More Sporadic Updates

M.E.

April 4, 2010, Easter Earthquake

It’s Easter Sunday! God bless everyone!

Today Matt went to DC to get the pallets from the moving place and put them in storage. I dropped him off at the airport at 11 and about 15 minutes after getting back to the house I hear mom calling me. Matt needs me to come back because they found his grandfather’s pocketknife in his backpack. So back to the airport I went. Sucks that he had to go through security twice, but I think it was worth not giving up the knife. The terrorists really did win.

I just studied the rest of the afternoon in the sun. Suddenly, the ground started shaking. After living in Alaska for 11 years I’m not shocked when this happens. What did surprise me is that the intensity kept increasing. I sat there for probably 10-15 seconds then decided to make a run for the house. Mom and dad were running for the door out of the house. It went on for about 5 more seconds while we stood by the pool which was nearly sloshing water over the sides. We later found out that it was a 7.2 earthquake that originated in Mexico. It was the strongest one I’ve been in since the one in Kodiak in 2000. As bad as it was nothing even fell off the walls or shelves. A friend in San Diego posted this verse and I thought it was pretty appropriate: Mathew 28:2: There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.” vs6 and 7, the most important part: “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead…”

I found a few recipes. Maybe I’m inspired by the weather here, but at least three of them (there was 4, but I was afraid that was massive overkill) that are mediterranean. Good thing my parents like that type of food! 

(There's no picture because I can't get one to load with this weak signal. Boo hiss.)

Days 19-20, Tuesday, March 30-31, 2010: This Desert Life (Hanginaround)

So, we are now in Palm Springs for a month. Well, maybe. I may need to fly to DC to unload our pallets into a storage facility. I woke up this morning and thought about unpacking the car and calling about the pallet. Then, I decided to get some coffee and make a bagel. An hour later, caffeinated and with something in my stomach, I thought about the unpacking again. Sam is still in bed and Tom is still under it. I went ahead and unpacked everything out of the car and moved it into the garage. Sam’s dad took off this morning so there was no car in the garage. I could not leave our bedroom door open, because the cats were not allowed out into the rest of the house, with the birds wandering around. After all our stuff out of the car, I called the pallet place in Anchorage. Our pallet was not in DC yet, and I would get a phone call when it gets there. All I could get was that it had been through Ohio. OK, I’ll just wait to hear something. When I walked back inside, Sam was up and drinking coffee. Tom was still under the bed. We pulled everything inside and cluttered our room. It hasn’t even been a day yet, and already we had a mess. This can be cleaned up later.

We jetted off in the car to run some errands. First, to downtown. When we had come down in October, Alaska Airlines lost our bag. It was never recovered. The one item being lost that upset me over all others, was my pair of Keen Hybrid Shoes. Anyone who has ever owned a pair of Keens probably understands why this upset me so much. I never bothered to replace them over the winter, because, well, who really needs a shoe that is half sandal for the Alaskan winter? Well, I wanted to replace them now that we have a real spring and are moving closer to a hot summer. I had remembered some shoe stores in the downtown strip when we were here that may have the Keens. We found a store sans Keens, one that had gone out of business and finally the Birkenstock store. The latter had Keens. All were full price and the selection limited. No sale. REI is having a sale, so I will try again later. The one thing I did manage to accomplish was to sell Sam on the Keens. She wanted a pair now, too.

We drove across town to Target and Trader Joe’s. We needed kitty supplies, such as a new litter box and scratching post, as well as some toiletries at Target. After the the cats and bathroom were equipped again, we ran over to Bahama Mama frozen yogurt for some fro-yo. This place was awesome. Self-serve yogurt and toppings. They then weighed your concoction and charged by the ounce. Sam and I were just as interested in the fresh mango and kiwi to put on the yogurt as we were the frozen yogurt. We are coming back here. Next, over to Trader Joe’s to do a bit of grocery shopping with Sue. (All these stores are in the same shopping area). Oh, how I have missed Trader Joe’s since moving to Alaska. I shopped there all the time while I lived in Eugene and became an addict. The selection and price of sausage, juice, chips/dip, trail mix, coffee, among other things is unrivaled.

Upon the return to our new temporary home, we cleaned up the room and basically moved in. All the vacuum bags were unpacked into the dresser and closet. The cats were set up with their new necessities. I even hooked up the Wii in the front room. Tom is still under the bed. Lucy had strategically laid herself out on the bed right under the fan. She was not used to the heat. I brushed her with the new brush in an effort to help her lose some hair so she could cool down a bit. She grooms herself so well, it didn’t seem that too much hair was coming off. Tom was goaded out from under the bed eventually, and I tried the same thing on him. Managed to get some hair off of him before he took refuge under the bed again.

I looked up the nearest REI. There is not one in Palm Springs or the surrounding area. If I want to go to REI, I have to drive all the way back towards LA to Rancho Cucamonga. That is over an hour away. Well, I really want my Keen shoes. If I need two pair, it is worth it to go to REI, because I will get 20% off one pair and the second pair will be applied to my REI dividend. Sam has to study tomorrow, so I will make the drive.

I found an old iTunes gift card in our stack of gift cards that the two of us and accumulated and compiled before we left. Score! Stuck it on my iTunes so I could download episodes of Flash Forward and Lost since Sam’s parents don’t have cable. We watched an episode of Flash Forward after dinner before crashing in.

We had a lazy morning on Wednesday. Got up, had coffee. I made some of the mango chicken sausage for breakfast that we bought at Trader Joe’s. Sam started back into her studies. The birds were outside this morning, so the cats were once again free to roam the house. Lucy jumped on the opportunity. Tom finally decided he wanted out from under the bed after being there for about a full day. I made the decision that I was going to drive the hour plus to the Rancho Cucamonga REI for my Keens. If I was going to pick up a pair for Sam, too, I needed her size, style and color preference. We drove back to the Birkenstock store to let Sam try on a pair. Got her size and she liked the girly-style Whisper over the other Keen styles. She is great. This style is cheaper than the normal Keen Newports. I took off for the REI. Since this is really the highlight of the day, now would be a good time for another rant about must-have items. I already blogged about the Contigo in the Day 6 posting. The Keen shoes will be my second rant. If you don’t own a pair, go out and get a pair this spring. They are hybrid shoe/sandals; like sandals with all the support and comfort of a cross-training or tennis shoe. They keep your foot cool in warm weather and surprisingly warm when the weather is cooler. Obviously, I wouldn’t suggest wearing them in January in Alaska, but even up there, you could wear them more than just in the summer. They last forever (or, at least until an airline loses them with your bag), and are versatile enough to be worn on the beach or in the woods on a hike or out camping. These shoes are the bomb!

To recap must have items:
1. Contigo Travel Mugs – Costco, $20 for a two-pack.
2. Keen Hybrid Shoes – REI, $95 for the Newport (mens and womens), $85 for the women-style Whisper. REI is having a sale until April 18, where members get 20% off one full price item. Of course, you could always get lucky and find a 2009 style on the sale rack.

The trip was a success. I found my size in the cool-sounding India Ink (dark blue) color on a pair of Newports. After a few calls back to Sam, some texting, and her using the REI website to visualize the color combinations, we settled on the bright green and gray for her. Two pairs of Keens, $175 with my discount, and some money for my REI 10% dividend coupon next year. On a side note, there was a Chick-fil-A right across the parking lot from the REI. I didn’t even know these things existed on the west coast! I thought about grabbing a chicken sandwich, but then thought it would be best to save the first Chick-fil-A stop on the move for a time where Sam and I could eat together.

Drove the hour plus back, which was a bit shorter, because the traffic wasn’t as bad going east. Definitely some clouds and some rain heading east to the desert. I noticed an email on my iPhone about a Dept. of Homeland Security Immigration Law job that I had applied for back in the winter. It said I had been rejected. Though, the title of the email only mentioned the job announcement number, so I had no idea what job I was being rejected for. Turned out it was the immigration attorney spot that would have placed me in Portland or Tacoma. Ah well. I never expected to find any good results applying through USA Jobs. Too many applicants and it always helps to have a foot in the door when applying for these jobs. I hope to have more success when we get to DC and I can start meeting people. And I am feeling cautiously optimistic about the Coast Guard JAG (or direct commission lawyer) position, too (though, the board doesn’t meet to make decisions on that until the end of April). It only took them three months to send me an email about it. At least I know that my application was received and was complete enough for someone to review. Based on the lack of response from DHS, I had no idea if anyone bothered to open the email I had sent.

Sam tried on her new shoes when I returned. She liked them, except for one of the left straps rubbed against her foot as she walked in a way that would cause a blister. UGH! We may have to go back to exchange her pair for another. She will try them on again later to play with the straps, when she is not in the middle of studying. Both cats had made themselves at home. They were free to wander around the house and Lucy is now strutting like she owns the place. Tom is finally not darting under the bed every few minutes and seems more comfortable. Dinner. Caught up on Flash Forward. Bed.

Up Next: More Hanginaround

M.E.